Jurgen Klopp is “over the moon” that Liverpool will begin training again en route to its first Premier League crown.
The Reds manager spoke to the club web site Tuesday on his joy at being reunited with his players after weeks and weeks of Zoom training sessions and absolutely zero traditional soccer competition while in isolation as part of the coronavirus pause.
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He says the players are ecstatic to be back and that watching the matches in Germany this weekend showed him that intensity will be high even without fans.
“All the physical numbers of the games in Germany were incredibly high, so like 117 or 118km running, without anybody shouting at you that you have to run,” Klopp said to the club’s website. “Just because you want it, because you do it for your teammates. That’s exactly what we have to do as well. We play for this club, we play for each other, 100 percent. We will run and fight for each other, 100 percent.”
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In fact, the Anfield faithful is about all he’ll miss when the Reds play their first match (Of course he will and you would too if you were essentially a demi-god to the majority of the 55,000 at Anfield each match.
Liverpool has a 25-point lead on Manchester City, having played one more game than the second-place Sky Blues.
If City wins all of their remaining 10 matches, one which is versus Liverpool at the Etihad, they’ll have 97 points. Liverpool has 82 points with 27 more available.
Klopp quipped that fitness won’t be a problem for his men, saying they’re likely fit enough to run marathons, but that their bodies will have to get used to football maneuvers again.
“For the body that’s a big challenge because these little turns and stuff like this, these football-specific things, they make all the difference,” Klopp said.