CHEERIO? NO, JUST CHEERS

Liverpool put aside the emotion of Klopp’s announcement as they brush aside Norwich and keep in the hunt for all four trophies

JURGEN KLOPP insisted it had to be business as usual – and his side delivered a business-like performance.

The Reds swatted aside Championship side Norwich to cruise into the FA Cup fifth round and set up a home tie against Watford or Southampton.

There was no emotional hangover from Klopp’s bombshell news on Friday that he will leave Anfield this summer as his team stuck five past a team managed by his good friend David Wagner, best man at his wedding.

Curtis Jones, Darwin Nunez, Diogo Jota, Virgil van Dijk and Ryan Gravenberch got the goals.

There were a couple of moments of concern when Ben Gibson equalised early in the game and Borja Sainz scored a stunner to make it 4-2. But the Reds were always in control on the pitch while emotions appeared to be in check in the stands after the shock that the manager is leaving in four months.

This was the first of potentially 30 farewell games for Klopp should the Reds go all the way in this competition and the Europa

League. They’ve got a Carabao Cup final and 17 Premier League games to come, which could all lead to a glorious finale to the Klopp story on Merseyside.

But to get there they can’t be distracted by their manager’s long goodbye.

This was a performance to show they can keep their minds firmly on the job with a side full of future stars and those who have been there and done it.

The first time Klopp (far left) faced Norwich was eight years ago in what was a rollercoaster 5-4 win.

It ended with wild celebrations, Klopp’s glasses being broken in the bedlam, and a sense more thrills were to come. His final meeting with the Canaries, and his former Borussia Dortmund colleague, didn’t quite match that for drama. That was the beginning of the journey while this was the start of the farewell tour.

It took only a minute for a Klopp chant – to the tune of Beatles hit ‘I feel fine’ – to come down from the Kop despite the German’s pleas for his song to come lower down the catalogue.

Liverpool were in front in the 16th minute thanks to a superb pass from teen

James Mcconnell, on his first start, as he spotted Jones, who had coasted in at the back post and finished with a fine header.

There was some concern inside Anfield when Gibson found the net with his back from a Gabriel Sara corner six minutes later.

But the lead was restored before the half-hour thanks to some brilliant play by Conor Bradley (left) to win possession and then feed Nunez, who found the net with a superb low strike.

The third came eight minutes after the break as

Gibson messed up a clearance from a Jones long pass and the always alert Jota pounced to power home.

That allowed Klopp to make some changes. Andy Robertson returned for the first time since October along with Hungary star Dominik Szoboszlai and later Trent Alexanderarnold. But it was another sub in Van Dijk who headed in the fourth from Szoboszlai’s corner soon after the hour-mark.

Sainz did inject a slight bit of hope for the visitors with a fizzing effort from 25 yards but there was to be no Norwich fightback.

Gravenberch got the fifth in stoppage time as he nodded home the impressive Bradley’s drilled cross from close range.

Klopp’s chant reemerged just before the goal went in and they continued to sing it long after the final whistle.

It will be ringing in everyone’s ears for the next few months whether manager Klopp likes it or not.