Liverpool have landed in Bangkok on Sunday ahead of their friendly against Manchester United – and Jurgen Klopp could not resist a playful dig on arrival.
A press conference was held at the airport shortly after the Reds squad touched down for the first leg of their pre-season tour.
United had already arrived after flying in on Friday. And before any of the press could get a word in, Klopp jumped in with his own teasing swipe: “First question I have…did it look like this yesterday when Manchester was here as well?” To which a few cries of “no, no” could be heard in response.
On the match itself, which takes place at 2 pm UK time on Tuesday, Klopp had this to say:
“Usually football matches are the most important thing for us. But in this specific case it’s really more for the people,” he stated.
“We have 37 players – all generations here – and we have to use all of them. The boys who were on international duty in the summer only arrived today pretty much. They cannot play too long but we will try to give them a few minutes as well.
“Manchester United. New manager. Trained a little bit longer than us. Not sure, but might be in a better situation in the moment. We see it as an important test because it’s against United – and we don’t play friendlies!”
Despite having trained for less time that Man United, Liverpool are still heavy favourites due to the Red Devils’ frankly poor squad.
They have only brought in a back-up left-back so far this summer whilst letting a number of players’ contracts expire. Cristiano Ronaldo is also missing the tour for ‘family reasons’.
