JURGEN KLOPP reckons Liverpool need to summon the fighting spirit of Rocky to knock out champions Manchester City in the title scrap this season.
Klopp’s men kick off their league campaign at home to West Ham tomorrow, bidding to end what will be a 29-year wait, come May, for a league title.
But after splashing out £170m in the transfer market this summer hopes are high that they can improve on last season’s fourth place.
Klopp has turned to boxing blockbuster Rocky IV to explain how Liverpool can close in on City after finishing a huge 25 points behind them last season.
In Klopp’s favourite instalment of the film series, Rocky was the underdog again when he faced the might of Soviet superpower Ivan Drago.
“We are still Rocky Balboa, not Ivan Drago,” said Klopp. “We are the ones who have to do more, fight more, and that must be our attitude.
“We didn’t reach anything so far. We went to finals. Should we go to a final again we should try to win it this time.
“In the league it is exactly the same – we finished in the Champions League places in fourth but there is still second and third which would be better than four.
“Then we can talk but at the moment it is nothing. We have to be like Rocky.”
Klopp identifies with Sylvester Stallone’s character as a fighter but does not want his side to be underdogs any more. “I don’t want to be the underdog,” he said. “I want to win, and Rocky won. Our potential is good, what we do with it we will see, and that’s only the quality we have.
“I only want from us that we fight, not that we are the underdog. I am not interested in being the underdog.
“Yes, it has happened a few times but not because I wanted it to be, but because it was a fact.
“I don’t see us an underdog, I see us as a team that challenges... the ones who have to do more, who have to run more, who have to jump more.
“Now we have to add 10, 15, 20 per cent in all departments – attitude, greed, readiness, anger, all that stuff.
“It comes now. West Ham are here and want our points. We have to be ready.
“I don’t think too much about what we have to do. I thought about it pre-season but now we have to be in this championship mood.
“It is like you jump in the water and dive and then let’s go for it, until you don’t have enough air any more or oxygen and you have to go up again. That is the plan, that we really go for it.”
Klopp may have watched all of Stallone’s boxing films but he has yet to watch Liverpool’s Champions League final defeat by Real Madrid last season.
The Reds signed Brazil keeper Alisson for £65m after Loris Karius’ horror night in the final and added midfield duo Fabinho and Naby Keita, as well as Xherdan Shaqiri in attack.
But Klopp said their transfer activity was not a response to that May night in Kiev.
He added: “The Champions League final, surprisingly, had absolutely nothing to do with our transfer business. Everything was already fixed and clear what we wanted.”