JURGEN’S EYE FOR DETAIL ALL IN THE JEANS
Klopp: I love the buzz we are making for this city, but I stay at home. I don’t go out, or go shopping... I’ve enough clothes to last a lifetime!
CARDIFF v LIVERPOOL
Klopp will not allow himself to be affected by the hype and hysteria that grips Merseyside as Reds fans allow themselves to dream about a first title in 29 years and a mouthwatering Champions League semi-final with Barcelona.
So the German has bunkered himself down at the luxury mansion in the seaside town of Formby that he has been renting from former Kop boss Brendan Rodgers since arriving in England three years ago.
Klopp said: “I don’t go out apart from football.
“Why should I? I have enough pairs of jeans to last me for the next 20 years, so I’m alright.
“I don’t go to the shops. I don’t do any of that.
“I can imagine the mood in the city is pretty good – but I don’t need to hear it, I don’t need to see it.
“But it’s football, and for most of my life I have been a pure football supporter, so if my team was doing this I know what I would have been like.
“My favourite thing would have been a situation like we have now, where it is buzzing.
“I can imagine people want to go out and celebrate, talk about it, but we are not part of that.
“We have to make sure it stays like this – and that’s no problem.
“I love the situation we are in, it’s really good, but of course we have to prove it every day and every game.
“It’s all good, but it’s not perfect, so we have to carry on working like we have been doing.”
Liverpool seem to be in perfect shape for the sprint to the finishing line.
Klopp’s men look fit and fresh, with no significant injury issues.
And they are in the midst of a 17-game unbeaten run which has included eight successive victories.
Klopp takes his team to face relegation-threatened Cardiff today at the start of a run-in that looks a formality, with games against doomed Huddersfield, Newcastle and Wolves to come. But Klopp warned: “It seems good, but it is like being a 400m runner. You might think you are in a good place. You have run the perfect race with 100m to go – but then you don’t concentrate for as moment and the others go past you. “The race is only finished when it is finished – and not before. “But we are OK with injuries at the moment and we are really in a proper competition mood. “If we are tired we don’t feel it. We want to be playing and winning, not sitting at home and hoping the others lose. “That’s exactly how you should be feeling as a professional sportsman.” Virgil van Dijk (right), the £75million defender signed from Southampton just over a year ago, has been outstanding for Liverpool this season.
The Dutchman is being tipped to follow in the footsteps of Mo Salah by winning the PFA Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year awards.
Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling is Van Dijk’s main rival for the honours.
And Klopp said: “Of course I would be sad if Virgil didn’t win it because he has had an outstanding season.
“But Raheem would also deserve the award.
“Last season it was Kevin De Bruyne and Mo Salah. Both were unbelievable.
“Mo won it and we were happy about that – but not because De Bruyne lost, because he would have deserved it as well.
“And that is the case again this season.” 1st leg Barcelona v Liverpool Wednesday, May 1, Nou Camp 2nd leg Liverpool v Barcelona Tuesday, May 7, Anfield