KLOPP SHRUGS OFF FAVOURITE TAG
LIVERPOOL coach Jurgen Klopp declared Manchester City as the best team in the world even though the English Premier League champion has yet to win Europe’s premier club competition.
As his team prepared to start its Champions League title defence by taking on Italian side Napoli in a Group E encounter today (5am AEST), the German dismissed suggestions his side should be viewed as favourite to lift the trophy again.
“We can’t be the best team in Europe because Man City are the best team in the world, that’s the same planet, I think,” a joking Klopp said yesterday.
“We don’t feel the burden of being champions. I have no clue (if teams will play differently against us). I’ve never won the Champions League before, I hope we are prepared for that.”
Liverpool finished second in the EPL last season behind Pep Guardiola’s City but is five points clear of its rival after five games this season.
Midfielder Jordan Henderson also said Liverpool was not the frontrunner to win the Champions League.
“It’s too early to say we’re favourites, we’ve started well but we can still get better,” the England international said. “We’re always hungry for more.”
Meanwhile, Klopp insists comments made by his agent that suggested he was contemplating his future because of the British weather were merely “a joke”.
The German is committed to Anfield club until but Marc Kosicke hinted his client could decide against signing a new contract, in part due to the inclement climate in the north west.
But Klopp said: “He wanted to make a joke. Now I have to be serious, otherwise I could make a lot of jokes about the weather! It was obviously German humour and nobody got it.
“The weather in Liverpool is not always nice but, especially between March and September or October, it’s nicer than you would imagine.”