Jurgen Klopp will not be at the Red Bull Arena on Wednesday night but he will loom large over the Champions League clash between RB Leipzig and his former club Liverpool.
Since this month’s surprise announcement that Klopp, 57, will start work as Red Bull’s head of global soccer from January, there has been fascination as to what his role will mean for clubs like Leipzig that come under the organisation’s umbrella.
Leipzig coach Marco Rose knows Klopp better than most, having spent six seasons playing for him at Mainz, and he learned a huge amount from his old boss, both as a player and now a coach.
“(When I was a player) he always brought a lot of energy into our team,” Rose said through a translator.
“Maybe we would be feeling weak but he came in and gave us the confidence, the power to play the next match and to believe in yourself, to believe that every situation can be turned around.
“As a coach, you can learn a lot from him. We might not always have been of the same opinion, but how he leads a group is unique, his honesty. Then it is especially about defending that I learned from him a lot.
“He is a great personality and a great person. I loved working together with him and I’m happy that we’ll work together again.”
The pair have maintained a close relationship for many years, but with Klopp taking a break in Mallorca before starting his new job, Rose has not been bothering him for tips on beating Liverpool.
New Reds boss Arne Slot has tweaked a number of things, not least defensively, but Rose still sees his old coach’s fingertips all over this Liverpool side.
“I wouldn’t say it has really changed,” he said. “The game is Liverpool is very intense. Still Liverpool are very strong in pressing situations, they defend very well, it is an intense game. They are a very robust team, physically strong on and off the ball.
“It is the same character Liverpool had under Klopp, very dominant like in the old days. Slot does it in his own way of course with some different mechanisms but everything is clear. They are uncomfortable to defend against with high quality, a lot of vertical play, and a lot of possession.”
Like Liverpool, Leipzig’s strength this season has been built on defence, with clean sheets in six of their seven Bundesliga games. The exception to that was a 3-2 win away to Bayer Leverkusen as Rose’s men were the ones to end the champions’ 43-game unbeaten domestic run.
Leipzig sit level on points with Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich after a 2-0 win at Mainz on Saturday, but things have been very different in the Champions League, thanks in part to a brutal draw.
Defeats to Atletico Madrid and Juventus have left them near the foot of the table, with the 3-2 home loss to Juve particularly tough to take given they were 2-1 up against 10 men with 25 minutes to play before it all went wrong.
After Liverpool, their next two fixtures are away to Celtic and Inter Milan before Aston Villa visit Saxony in December.
“To lose is never good, we are not relaxed, but we know we could have won more points with maybe a better performance an with more luck,” Rose said when asked about their Champions League campaign so far.
“Now we face Liverpool, another great team. It is our third match with five more coming up, also against strong opponents. Considering our start to this competition, of course there is a little bit of pressure built up.
“(Wednesday) will not be decisive but it will be important to get some points, to relieve some of the pressure, and it would be cool to start that against Liverpool.”
