Jurgen Klopp not “rubbing his hands” ahead of clash with Man United

By Tom Morley 

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has responded to Paul Scholes’ comments about him “rubbing his hands” at the prospect of facing Manchester United this Sunday.

Scholes made the comments following the Red Devils’ late victory over Atalanta in the Champions League thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo’s late header.

Klopp told the media today: “I was not rubbing my hands I can say that.

“If you watch the game then you can obviously see that Atalanta caused United (in) the first half some problems.

“But even in that half I think United had three clear cut chances and one situation with the goalie, but the things (I saw) in the second half was a pure power presentation of United, they went for with the quality they have and they can cause any team problems.

“Especially when you stop playing football and obviously Atalanta did a little bit so no I wasn’t rubbing my hands.”

Manchester United on Sunday poses arguably Liverpool’s toughest test yet especially after Tuesday’s clash against Spanish Champions Atletico Madrid.

But it will be a different type of challenge, especially with the firepower that they have in attacking areas, something which Klopp is aware of:

“I prepared the team for a tough game against a really good opponent (on Tuesday), so I will prepare them now for three or four days for Man United.

“We’ve been together long enough to know the importance of this game, we prepared them for a footballing team and it’s a really good footballing team that they have and it’s an away game for us, so that’s what we do.”

Manchester United have been inconsistent this season so far under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

But the Liverpool manager knows how dangerous they can be and the magnitude of the fixture.

Klopp added: “United vs Liverpool is a massive game obviously we know that.

“I think United aren’t overly happy with the results that they got so far.

“But we all know that they are able to dig incredible stuff, but we will try to focus mainly on ourselves.”

Kick off is 4.30pm on Sunday, October 24.