I’ve never wanted to have the best team, or be the best player or manager. What interests me is to beat the best

JURGEN KLOPP claims he wants to beat rather than be the best. Klopp has revelled as the underdog, from his first days as a coach at Mainz and then Borussia Dortmund, and insists his mentality won’t change, despite Liverpool spending £250million this year. The Reds boss has built his career on working out how to beat better teams with more resources, like he did when he led Dortmund to two

Bundesliga title triumphs over Bayern Munich.

The German rejects talk that Liverpool have drawn level with Manchester City because they spent most this summer and insists Pep Guardiola’s champions are still the Premier League’s best team.

Klopp says his goal is to beat City as “often as possible” and his gegenpressing style has proven to be the antidote to Guardiola’s possession game.

Liverpool have won all four matches against City this year, including last month’s tour win in the US against a youthful Blues side, and Klopp is out to maintain that run.

“If a team is better than yours, then you have to work out how to be at their level and how to beat them,” he said.

“I have never wanted to have the best team. I have never wanted to be the best player or the best manager.

“What interests me is to beat the best. The best team today in England is Manchester City.

“That means the other teams are not the best. The

goal then is to beat City as often as possible.”

Liverpool rivalled City as one of the most attractive sides last season and scored 135 goals as they reached the Champions League final and finished fourth.

They began the new campaign with a 4-0 win over West Ham at Anfield and Klopp claims entertaining is key for him.

“What is my style of play? I have been a coach for 18 years and I haven’t even thought about this question, despite being asked it a lot.

“I don’t really get what it means. I love the game, it’s as simple as that.

“It intrigues me 95 per cent of the time. When I watch a match, I always see things I like. If not, it would be a waste of time. “Entertainment is the most important part of football. There are too many serious problems in the world to make football boring too. I want to see happiness in my players, passion in their eyes, and a desire to fight.

“I want to see them bursting to surprise me – to look what’s on their right, to try and make a pass to their left, that sort of thing,” he told France Football.

Possession is not sacred to Klopp, in the same way it is to Guardiola (right) or new Arsenal boss Unai Emery (left).

“It’s not the possession that counts, but what you do with it,” he said. “Against Burnley, two years ago, we had 82 per cent of possession and lost 2-0. They had two real opportunities in the game and enjoyed our wastefulness.

“It’s the decision you make in possession that makes the difference, not just the possession.

“Just as when you lose the ball, it is your organisation that stops you being in danger.”

UP FOR THE FIGHT Jurgen Klopp loves to be the underdog and wants to keep up his great run against Manchester City