Jurgen Klopp admits Sunday’s clash with Manchester United ‘feels like a derby’

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says Sunday’s clash with arch-rivals Manchester United feels like a ‘derby to him’. 

Liverpool and Manchester United will go head-to-head on Sunday afternoon at Anfield as they look to pick up crucial points in the Premier League.

Klopp has labelled the fixture as a ‘massive one’ for Liverpool and says they are fighting for ‘more than just three points’. 

Speaking to Sky Sports’ Geoff Shreeves, the German manager said: ‘It is the derby for me, to be honest.

‘It’s a massive one, and over the years it has always been difficult games and great atmospheres in both stadiums. I respect what they are doing so it is a big game. 

Klopp has labelled the fixture against Manchester United (above) as a ‘massive one’ for Liverpool and says they are fighting for ‘more than just three points’

‘It is actually clear over the [recent] years, obviously it didn’t work out exactly to the extent they wanted it to work out, but with bringing Erik ten Hag in – and you just need to look at their squad when the squad was finally together.

‘When all the boys were in, when (Raphael) Varane was in, when Casemiro was in, when (Christian) Eriksen came, and all these kinds of things.

‘It’s obviously not a squad that is built together for the next 10 years, it is a squad for now, but super-experienced, super quality players coming in.

‘I think for both [teams] pretty much it’s worth more than three points, just because I know that United they are still 100 per cent in the fight for winning the league, definitely – everybody probably knows that.

‘And yes, for us, of course, it is super, super important as well, because we want to make the next step to get closer to the proper area where we want to be.

‘Of course, I think we can do that, but we have to prove it. It’s not about me now saying we can do it – there is a lot of work between my words and the actual outcome. I felt always the full importance of this game whenever we played them.’ 

However, Klopp was adamant that Sunday clash with United will not define their quest for a top-four place as he believes his side are well in the hunt already.

The midweek victory over Wolves closed the gap to fourth-placed Tottenham to six points with a match in hand and Spurs still to come to Anfield.

What it has done has underlined the fact that, after taking 10 points from a possible 12 with four successive clean sheets, Liverpool are up for the challenge.

‘The important thing about the chase is that the chase is not a one-day trip, you really have to go for it,’ said Klopp when asked if Sunday provided the opportunity to send a message by beating an in-form United.

Klopp has labelled the fixture as a ‘massive one’ for Liverpool and says they are fighting for ‘more than just three points’ when they face Erik ten Hag’s (above) side 

The midweek victory over Wolves closed the gap to fourth-placed Tottenham to six points with a match in hand and Spurs still to come to Anfield

‘I have no clue what it means to them but I think they realise already we are not completely gone.

‘It is not that we are in no-man’s land. We have to play pretty much all of the teams ahead of us still – Newcastle not any more but Tottenham are still to come here.

‘We don’t have to think about that, just take it game by game and go for it, go full throttle.

‘A lot of good things happened in the last few weeks but because of the Madrid game (a 5-2 home defeat in the Champions League) it doesn’t feel like that.

‘So far it goes in the right direction but we have to make further steps. What it means for the other teams I don’t know, I am not there, but they know we are still around and that’s better than if they can’t see us any more.’