Jurgen Klopp previews Sunday’s visit to Manchester United and says there is no alternative other than to win as the title race heats up
Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool have no alternative other than to win Sunday’s game at Manchester United as he declared himself uninterested by the fact it will be his last at Old Trafford.
Klopp’s league leaders visit United looking to take another big step towards a 20th title but the fixture comes less than a month since their FA Cup quarter-final meeting ended with a 4-3 defeat.
Asked if he had given any consideration to the weekend’s meeting being his final one at United as Reds boss, Klopp dismissed the importance of that as he called on his team to keep their focus as a potentially historic run-in begins to take real shape.
“No, I don’t want to make it that Old Trafford is not a great place, it’s a fantastic stadium, outstanding atmosphere, a big club,” said Klopp.
“I know all these things already but I don’t have this [emotion] with football. I had this when we played Manchester City (away). ‘This is your last time,’ they said.
“‘We have already played them at home?’. ‘No, this is the last time you play them [at the Etihad]’. Oh, OK. I’m in the job, it might be called ‘Klopp’s farewell tour’ from the outside but that has nothing to do with me.
“I’m approaching each game like normal. I don’t have these (sentimental) feelings. We have eight games to go and we need to be focused. And we will be. We play Manchester United, an opponent who is probably not 100% happy with how their season has gone.
“So what can they do with this specific game? You saw it after the game we played against them how they felt after it and what it meant to them. But for us it’s just as important. For our people it’s just as important and I cannot see us playing football any differently.”
Klopp added: “It’s not that it is an ill tense where it is ‘what is he talking about?’ But intensity is a good thing, it is needed. It is focus, it’s concentration, it’s involvement, it’s will. We want to go for it. To go to Old Trafford and winning is already a big task but in our position there aren’t a lot of alternatives to that.”