Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has urged his players not to allow aggression to get the better of them when they take on Merseyside rivals Everton at Anfield on Wednesday.
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The fixture remains the most-played derby in English football and continues to hold the record for the highest number of red cards issued in any fixture issued in the Premier League era. It’s my first derby against a team in the same city, so of course that’s different.
“My Merseyside derby experience will 100 per cent not be the reason for winning or losing”, he said.
“I’ve met some Evertonians in the street and they’ve been friendly”.
‘My understanding of the Scouse language is still pretty hard for me, ‘ said Klopp. “I was really pleased for them to give them that opportunity and it was how you saw, really intensive and really good against a team who will play Premier League football next year”.
The German is quoted as saying by the Mirror: “As Dortmund manager, I lived in a street and my two neighbours were Schalke fans”. I don’t want to see this.
“I understand aggressiveness in one way – be prepared to hurt yourself, not anybody else”.
For Everton, who have not won at Anfield since September 1999, it is their biggest week of the season with this match followed by an FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United at the weekend.
Following the Dortmund game he was ruled out for around four weeks – giving the reds hope that he could be available for the last games of the season and (if the reds get past Villarreal) a potential European final.
“Nobody in our dressing room is thinking about the Europa League”, he is quoted by BBC Sport as saying. That’s what I expect from this game too – that everybody sees from the first second on that we want to win this game.
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Klopp added: “I know that outside there are more important things than football, but sometimes it looks like there is nothing more important – especially around derbies. So we should try our best”.
