JURGEN: I WILL KEEP MAKING A FIST OF IT
German ‘does not care’ if critics slam full-time joy
CHELSEA V LIVERPOOL 3PM TOMORROW, SKY SPORTS
JURGEN KLOPP has backed Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta in the celebration debate, saying he does not “give a s***” what people think of his fist-pumping antics.
Liverpool head coach Klopp, who leads his side into the Carabao
Cup final against Chelsea tomorrow, went to all four Anfield stands on Wednesday night to delight in the comeback win over lowly Luton.
His joy reignited talk over teams celebrating excessively when there is so much of the Premier League season to go.
Earlier this month Jamie Carragher, above, criticised Arsenal after they partied on the pitch in the wake of their victory over Liverpool at the Emirates.
But Klopp said: “I heard the discussions that Mikel over-celebrated the win against us. That definitely did not come from me.
“You do what you do for yourself and your people, and what the outside world thinks about it, I couldn’t give a s***, to be honest. And you can write that exactly like that.
“You can make of my celebrations what you want.
“I didn’t invent fist-pumps, I don’t have the copyright on it and I don’t want it.
“This is for us and nobody else. Who likes it, likes it, and who doesn’t like it, doesn’t like it.”
Klopp will make late fitness checks on forwards Mo Salah and Darwin Nunez, as well as midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai ahead of the Wembley showdown with Mauricio Pochettino’s side.
But Trent AlexanderArnold, Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota will be out until late March at the earliest.
Klopp insists he is not at the stage of his farewell tour when, to coin a recent Anfield phrase, this means more. The German has the chance to win the first of a possible four trophies in his final season before leaving Liverpool this summer.
And while he is adamant it is business as usual, Klopp is clearly dreaming of a storybook ending to his time on Merseyside.
He said: “We are still writing a wonderful book and when I leave we close that book and put it on the shelf.
“Then someone else will write a wonderful book.
“There is space for some [more] chapters. I am not there and writing the resume already. Not at all.
“I am 100 percent in trying to create a few special memories on top of what we have done. These boys will throw their heart and soul on the pitch and the more we can give them, the better it is.”