Jurgen Klopp has insisted he is not worried about what his legacy at Liverpool might be – but he wants to end the season by giving fans something more to celebrate.
As Klopp goes into the final weeks of his reign, having announced he will step down at the end of the season, Liverpool remain locked in a tight three-way fight at the top of the Premier League as they prepare for Sunday’s match against Crystal Palace.
This season’s Carabao Cup is already in the cabinet, but their Europa League hopes took a potentially fatal blow in Thursday’s 3-0 home defeat against Atalanta in the first leg of their quarter-final tie – something Klopp wants to turn into a positive.
“For me I’ve had enough parades and parties, it was never about that and it will never be (about that) but I would love to give the people the opportunity to celebrate something special and I think it would be right as well,” Klopp told Sky News.
“I’m still happy we are still in that fight. I want to make sure we really go for it. Sometimes life and football are the same – you need a proper smash to realise why you do what you do and we got that smash and we will use it.”
But asked what it would mean for his legacy, Klopp added: “I don’t care… would that make me a great manager? I never considered myself a great manager. Never, ever in my life.
“I am surprised until this day that people see me that way, that’s 100 per cent true but I accept it that people see me like that.
“What’s important is that the Liverpool people are happy with what we did that’s the only important thing…
“On my gravestone, I don’t want, ‘here is one of the most successful managers on the planet’, you are still lying three feet under. No, not for me. I want to be remembered as somebody who helped people through life.”
Klopp, 56, announced in January that he would step down at the end of the season, having said he was “running out of energy”, and plans a break from football.
“There’s a few things (Klopp’s wife) Ulla told me – I have to learn cooking and a dance class,” he said. “I said you don’t want me to have a break because if I do that I will start working after four weeks again! I should learn cooking probably so I can at least make some breakfast or whatever.
“This will be the first time in my life where I don’t have a real idea of what I will do and that’s exactly what I want.”
Asked about his cooking repertoire, he added: “No. Hot water, tea, does that count? During Covid I did scrambled eggs but after that I forgot it again.
“I was raised in the Black Forest with two sisters, the only reason I knew where the kitchen was because the smell came from there! I’m pretty useless in private life.”
Before then, the popular Klopp can expect a big sendoff from Liverpool no matter how the final weeks of the campaign play out.
He has one obvious selection for the soundtrack, and one more obscure choice.
Die Gentlemen bitten zur Klasse: „Learning English Lesson 3: MERSEY BEAT! The Sound Of Liverpool“: Hier geht’s zum Stream & Download » pic.twitter.com/4wJRH9KXF9
— Die Toten Hosen (@dietotenhosen) December 4, 2020
“It’s Liverpool so it would be The Beatles 100 per cent, they could easily choose the song because I love them all,” he said.
“Actually, the band that is alive is Die Toten Hosen, the translation is The Dead Pants. It’s a punk rock band and the lead singer Campino is a good friend of mine and the biggest LFC supporter on the planet – that would be the biggest day of his life.
“They sing in German so no one would understand but that’s fine.”
