Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has compared tomorrow’s Europa League tie with Borussia Dortmund to playing your best friend as he prepares to face his former club.
Klopp led the German club to successive Bundesliga titles before leaving in 2015, and returns for the first time in Thursday’s quarter-final first leg at Westfalenstadion.
But the 48-year-old has claimed that he is not thinking about his personal circumstances for one second, and that friendships will go out of the window come matchday.
Liverpool Echo reporters James Pearce was in attendance at Klopp’s highly-anticipated press conference at Signal Iduna Park and reported the following on his Twitter account.
Klopp: “We’re always played v our best friends & always wanted to beat them. It’s no problem. I don’t think about my situation for 1 second”
— James Pearce (@JamesPearceEcho) April 6, 2016
Klopp: “We were lucky to get here early so it gave me 20mins to catch up with old friends. Would have been bit daft not to get that chance.” — James Pearce (@JamesPearceEcho) April 6, 2016
Klopp: “Tomorrow is different. It’s the game. It’s about football. We will make our way straight to the dressing room.”
— James Pearce (@JamesPearceEcho) April 6, 2016
Although emotions will undoubtedly be running high for Klopp, his analogy makes perfect sense. When you play against your best friend on the park, you still want to win.
Of course, this is far from park football. Nobody could begrudge Klopp feeling sentimental on his return to his old stomping ground, but it is clear that he means business too.
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