One thing is certain tonight: Jurgen Klopp will get a huge reception, but he won’t get emotional.
People are still very grateful for his seven years here in Dortmund. But it won’t be easy for him, because he’s coming back to his stadium.
But for the 90 minutes, he is just the coach of Liverpool — and this is probably his new club’s only chance to qualify for the Champions League. He knows that. This is not a friendship game.
You can actually compare Liverpool to Dortmund — both in terms of their supporters and history. That was a huge part of the appeal for him. It was also a good chance for him to go to England, the motherland of football.
It doesn’t really surprise me that he is already liked. Liverpool is a perfect fit for Jurgen. We shouldn’t define him only as a motivator — he can do much more than that, he’s very smart and tactically strong.
He does have special methods and a text message he sent to our squad at Christmas last year, when we were struggling near the bottom of the Bundesliga, was really funny.He said that we should stop thinking about all the negative things that had happened so far, and that we would go on and play much better in the second part of the season. He told us to enjoy our holidays and get our minds free. Then he said: ‘We will kick ass again!’
Jurgen has a special charisma and is a very positive man. He takes everybody with him. It’s a special way of managing people. That’s what it is really — it’s a people business. That’s what he does.But he’s not walking around with a magical stick. He’s following his plan and wants everybody to give their best. You feel it every day. It’s hard work.
We weren’t champions in our first season. It took a while, but I think Liverpool have much more quality than we had during that period. They could grow much faster than we did. People have to trust him. Follow him and it works. – Daily Mail