"It's been a crazy ride," said Jürgen Klopp as his crowd-pleasing Liverpool side bid to go "all the way together" in Kyiv.
©AFP/Getty Images
Hired in 2015, Jürgen Klopp is looking to make the UEFA Champions League trophy his first as Liverpool manager. The 50-year-old talked through his football philosophy as he geared up to take on Real Madrid in Kyiv.
On the road to Kyiv
I'm immensely proud of what the boys have achieved. The number of goals we scored is simply crazy. We've scored seven goals twice and five goals twice, too. That's really [crazy], because we aren't Barcelona, we aren't Real Madrid or Bayern München. We aren't anyone else. We are Liverpool, on the way to becoming a really good team. And performing at such a high level is very cool. To summarise, it's been a crazy ride, but we've earned our place here. On his relationship with the team Klopp enjoys a close relationship with his players Klopp enjoys a close relationship with his players
©AFP/Getty Images
We have a relationship, a business relationship, where I'm the boss and they are my employees, so to speak. But football should not work in that way, because it's a game after all. Me as a person, I want to have a close relationship with them, because I want to understand them. I want to know why things happen. I'm grateful to them for what they've achieved. I'm not the kind of guy who thinks: 'Well, they are getting paid for that. This is what they ought to do.' There are many teams at the same level as us, who earn as much or even more than our players, but they don't perform as well. That's why I'm so grateful, and I've told them so. We're in this journey together. We've come here together. That's how I want to be understood, too. We'll go all the way together: that's the plan.
On Real Madrid
They're the defending champions, and they've won back-to-back titles in this competition. They've done really well under Zinédine Zidane. He's one of the top five players of all time. I'm glad we're not playing against each other – me marking him, or whatever. I'm very glad I can send my players on to the pitch. Just meeting him is awesome. I admired him as a player and respect him as a colleague. It's incredible what he's been doing with Madrid. It's really, really extraordinary. But we're not going [to Kyiv] to grab some jerseys.
Hired in 2015, Jürgen Klopp is looking to make the UEFA Champions League trophy his first as Liverpool manager. The 50-year-old talked through his football philosophy as he geared up to take on Real Madrid in Kyiv.
On the road to Kyiv
I'm immensely proud of what the boys have achieved. The number of goals we scored is simply crazy. We've scored seven goals twice and five goals twice, too. That's really [crazy], because we aren't Barcelona, we aren't Real Madrid or Bayern München. We aren't anyone else. We are Liverpool, on the way to becoming a really good team. And performing at such a high level is very cool. To summarise, it's been a crazy ride, but we've earned our place here. On his relationship with the team Klopp enjoys a close relationship with his players Klopp enjoys a close relationship with his players
©AFP/Getty Images
We have a relationship, a business relationship, where I'm the boss and they are my employees, so to speak. But football should not work in that way, because it's a game after all. Me as a person, I want to have a close relationship with them, because I want to understand them. I want to know why things happen. I'm grateful to them for what they've achieved. I'm not the kind of guy who thinks: 'Well, they are getting paid for that. This is what they ought to do.' There are many teams at the same level as us, who earn as much or even more than our players, but they don't perform as well. That's why I'm so grateful, and I've told them so. We're in this journey together. We've come here together. That's how I want to be understood, too. We'll go all the way together: that's the plan.
On Real Madrid
They're the defending champions, and they've won back-to-back titles in this competition. They've done really well under Zinédine Zidane. He's one of the top five players of all time. I'm glad we're not playing against each other – me marking him, or whatever. I'm very glad I can send my players on to the pitch. Just meeting him is awesome. I admired him as a player and respect him as a colleague. It's incredible what he's been doing with Madrid. It's really, really extraordinary. But we're not going [to Kyiv] to grab some jerseys.
Comments
Post a Comment