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06th Oct 2015

15 pearls of wisdom from the charismatic Mr Klopp

Jurgen-a love him...

Nooruddean Choudry

If you thought Brendan was good for a sound bite, wait until you get a load of this guy…

They don’t call Jurgen Klopp ‘Mr Charisma’ for nothing. He has an infectious love of the game, and a wonderful way with words. Here are just a few of his best quotes…

On his wife’s literary ambitions:

“She wrote a book for children. It’s like Harry Potter – but it’s about football. There’s no Harry Potter flying on his f**king stick – just football.”

On the media:

“Screw you. I like giving interviews to you as much as having toothache. Do you have to come here or what?”

On how he and Arsene Wenger differ:

On team spirit:

“You can speak about spirit, or you can live it. We took the team to a lake in Sweden where there was no electricity. We went for five days without food.”

On fame:

“In extreme situations, you have to think fast. At one of my mates’ stag parties, we all dressed up as Father Christmas – fully masked.”

On Mario Gotze leaving to join Bayern:

On Hummels to United rumours:

“If that’s not a bulls**t story, I’ll eat my broomstick!”

On karaoke:

“I couldn’t have been a rock star, although I do sing Country Road very loudly on the PlayStation.”

On signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan:

On a team talk after a poor half:

“I told my players during the break: Since we’re here anyway, we might actually play a bit of football.”

On banning sex before games:

“My players sleep in double rooms the night before the match. I hope that nothing happens.”

On competing with Bayern:

On finally overcoming Bayern:

“When Dortmund last won here 19 years ago, most of my players were still being breast-fed.”

On Hummels being injured:

“We will wait for him like a good wife waiting for her husband who is in jail.”

Finally, an inkling of what was to come: