Klopp: Why I thought Oliver Kahn was an ‘arrogant pr*ck’ but don’t anymore

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Jurgen Klopp gives the best, most honest and interesting interviews of any manager out there.

Liverpool’s boss speaks from his heart, but with immense knowledge and a wonderful way of looking at both football and life.

And his latest interview, which features in a long documentary about his life with German broadcaster ZDF, is no different!

Tom Weber went to the effort of translating Klopp’s quotes for us and sharing them on Twitter, and for that, we thank him!

Klopp has explained how the stress of being consistently in the public eye can wear him down – and occasionally baffles him.

The manager tells a story about before he hit the big time, he scoffed at legendary German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn for turning down an autograph request, but now understands why.

“I’m approachable, but I can’t always be there for people, I have to draw a line somewhere. A lot of people think that they can just knock on my front door and ask for an autograph, that drives me absolutely crazy,” he began. 

“When I was still a player, we played Bayern in a friendly. I was walking next to Oliver Kahn and someone goes up to him and asks for an autograph. Kahn said ‘not now’ and I thought to myself: what an arrogant prick. But now, I understand him, you can’t always help people.

“You can’t be a public figure all day, every day. Nobody can do that. Sometimes you have to erect a wall just to have some privacy, just to be normal.

“When I go outside, people treat me like a king – doctors stop talking, scholars stutter when they see me and I’m just like: what’s going on? I’m literally just a random guy you see on your TV screens.

“I mean, of course it’s better that people love seeing and meeting me, that means I’m doing my job, but you have to draw a line somewhere.”

It must be basically nigh on impossible for Klopp to head out into Liverpool now and enjoy something that even resembles a normal evening.

But he’s not the first person for whom that is the case and he won’t be the last!

We’re not quite sure who would go and knock on a stranger’s door and ask them for a picture, though, so would advise any Liverpool fans planning on doing so to avoid.

After all, we wouldn’t want to be on the wrong end of Klopp’s nasty side!

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