Jurgen Klopp is set to take charge of his final game as Liverpool manager on Sunday.
The German confirmed back in January that he would be stepping down from his position at the end of the season and now just one game is left. Klopp will lead his side out to face Wolves in their Premier League curtain-raiser as Anfield prepares to deliver an emotional goodbye.
It hasn't been quite the end to the campaign many Liverpool fans would have been hoping for, but they are guaranteed to finish third and will return to the Champions League next season. Since replacing Brendan Rodgers on Merseyside in October 2015, Klopp has won a Premier League title, a FA Cup, two Carabao Cups, a Champions League win and a Club World Cup.
That is an impressive accolade and Klopp recalled some of his best memories in a press conference with the media heading into his final game at the helm. Here are his best quotes...
On how former Liverpool CEO Ian Ayre got rejected at first
“I think two, three years before I think Ian Ayre called me up when I was at Dortmund and asked if I was interested. In that moment I thought, ‘Eh?’ Dortmund were flying, blah, blah, blah, maybe champions again and Liverpool? I thought, ‘Nah, no chance’ but I didn’t want to leave at all so I was like ‘Why you call?’.
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“Liverpool was not in a great place, it was not a place you go and say ‘Yeah Liverpool is calling, yeah come on lets go’. That changed three years later.”
On his first press conference
“That went down really well in Switzerland! My skiing holiday will not be in Switzerland. I am pretty sure people think I planned to say those things.
"When you look back, I just wanted to survive the press conference! I tried to get through it. What I actually meant to say was (if we do not win a trophy) you will need a coach from Switzerland. Either way, it was bulls***! It was more you will have to try with somebody else.”
Jurgen Klopp joined Liverpool in October 2015 (Liverpool FC via Getty Images)On claims FSG didn’t back him enough
“I think you could buy into it but (people say) 'they didn't back him enough' and stuff like that but I never saw it that way. I don't know if they could have done more but I don't think so because we had these discussions and I never had them in public.
“I didn't want to bring this feeling to the outside world that we are not united. If we had an argument it was internal and on the outside we say it's our way and that is how we do it. I don't know any other way.
“If it would help to invite the public into the discussions I would try but it doesn't help. If my son asked me for fifty euros and I only had 25 to give what can I do? Besides just give him the 25. I really thought for us that I understood that it was our way, the Liverpool way.”
On Vincent Kompany’s goal against Leicester in 2019
“The screamer of Vinny. That ball goes 999 of 1,000 everywhere in the stadium and for that night it looks like for them it is meant to be. Is it Sky that has Vinny’s screamer? From time to time you see and think, ‘are you kidding me? Are you really kidding me?’
“I was lying on my sofa like this [Straightens his body] hands in my pockets and a second later I felt like I had had a stroke. That is the truth. Wow. What can you do when that happens?”
Vincent Kompany scored THAT goal against Leicester (GETTY)On losing the 2022 Champions League final to Real Madrid
“We play that game and we shoot every three minutes on their goal but their keeper has 12 hands, and then they score that goal and we talk afterwards about the one mistake where we could have defended that goal better.
"Could they have defended all the situations where we had the finishes better? Oh definitely. But nobody speaks about it.
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"That has nothing to do with our defending, that was that f***er Courtois. And that was it. I couldn’t go down that road again that night and feel like you usually feel after a defeat like that. We didn’t do anything wrong.”
On relationship with media and that clash with Danish journalist
"Why should I have a personal problem with you (journalists) but you deliver the s*** message when I'm not in my best moment. It's just where we clash.
"Before that I've had it with tv, like the guy from Denmark, the poor guy. I had already had seven or eight interviews before, and then he hits that (button) by saying it's usually you who has intensity - oh my God, I actually thought I dealt really well with it. If I would have said what I was really thinking, I would have killed him... in that specific moment."
Jurgen Klopp has had his fair share of battles with journalists (Liverpool FC via Getty Images)On Liverpool taking next step under Arne Slot
“With new influences. They are important. They are really important. Our football doesn’t have to change completely but can be justified here and there, can be players in different positions, can do this and that, the quality is still there, can still develop, fantastic. Let’s go.
"And that is really what I like. It is not an emergency case and you hear that beep beep beep and it is close to [pretends to be a life support machine and gives one long] beep, it is really healthy, a very vital club with a wonderful training ground, sensational stadium, financially not bad. On roses? We never were but solid, on a high level. Let’s go from there. That gives me the best feeling.”
On his plans for this summer
"I actually don't know. I have got an invitation now for the Champions League final. They said “'I don't think he will come' but of course I will come, it's the Champions League final and I have nothing to do really!
“That's one thing, besides that we didn't plan anything. At the Euros we will watch games and have tickets for a few games. Being in Germany for a long time, meeting friends, nothing spectacular. Just easy-going, not planning a pre-season, I will definitely not do that, and not being involved in any transfer talks, which is such a difference. I'm really looking forward to it. But no real plans."
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