Jürgen Klopp says Liverpool title will come in most difficult season ever

Jürgen Klopp has said this season’s Premier League champions should have an asterisk attached to their name because the title will go down in history as the most difficult to win.

The Liverpool manager admits he Googled the word “asterisk” when people – aka non-Liverpool fans – questioned the credibility of a title won after a three-month lockdown and behind closed doors. Liverpool are six points from securing their first league championship since 1990 and restart at Everton on Sunday.

Klopp agrees the 2019-20 champions will be remembered differently. But, rather than a question of legitimacy, he believes winning the league during the coronavirus pandemic, with all the problems caused for society and football, will be a unique achievement.

“Usually I do not pay too much attention to what everyone is saying around us,” Klopp said. “Now I have had a lot of time to read and I heard a lot and saw a lot. When that came up I had to google the word ‘asterisk’. I only knew the word from the comic [Asterix] before. This is the most difficult year and season to become champions. It is an interrupted season like has never happened before. Whoever will be champions at the end it will be historical because it is a year that we will never forget because hopefully it is the only year we ever have like this as human beings and a society because I hope we find solutions for this kind of thing in the future.

“It is historic now more than ever. Give us an asterisk. Yes, do it. Because it is the most difficult season ever and the only difference is there is quite a points gap between us and other teams, but if you saw City playing the other night, saw the team they played and saw the bench they had where they changed five times and there was still no Leroy Sané on the pitch, you think: ‘Wow, that is really impressive.’ That is our opponent.

“That is why when they were having discussions about [ending] the season I felt quite tense during the lockdown. Now it is over and we are here. We worked so hard for this and we do not want to get over the line ‘somehow’. We want to play football. Nobody has to tell us we are nearly there. I am not interested in nearly, or in close. I am interested in playing the best football we can play.”

All 90 remaining Premier League games will be shown live, with 31 matches available free to air. Sky will show 25 games on their Freeview platform, Pick (ch11). 

The BBC will show four matches, with Amazon also making their four games available for free on Prime Video. The remaining 59 games will be available to subscribers on Sky Sports and BT Sport

Dates, times and channels

Friday 19 June
Norwich v Southampton 6pm Sky/Pick
Tottenham v Manchester United 8.15pm Sky Sports

Saturday 20 June
Watford v Leicester 12.30pm BT Sport
Brighton v Arsenal 3pm BT
West Ham v Wolves 5.30pm Sky
Bournemouth v C Palace 7.45pm BBC One

Sunday 21 June
Newcastle v Sheffield United 2pm Sky/Pick
Aston Villa v Chelsea 4.15pm Sky
Everton v Liverpool 7pm Sky/Pick

Monday 22 June
Manchester City v Burnley 8pm Sky

Tuesday 23 June
Leicester v Brighton 6pm Sky
Tottenham v West Ham 8.15pm Sky

Wednesday 24 June
Man Utd v Sheffield Utd 6pm Sky/Pick
Newcastle v Aston Villa 6pm BT
Norwich v Everton 6pm BBC Two/One
Wolves v Bournemouth 8.15pm BT
Liverpool v Crystal Palace 8.15pm Sky

Thursday 25 June
Burnley v Watford 6pm Sky/Pick
Southampton v Arsenal  6pm Sky
Chelsea v Manchester City 8.15pm BT

Saturday 27 June
Aston Villa v Wolves 12.30pm BT

Sunday 28 June
Watford v Southampton 4.30pm Sky/Pick

Monday 29 June
Crystal Palace v Burnley 8pm Amazon

Tuesday 30 June
Brighton v Man Utd 8.15pm Sky/Pick

Wednesday 1 July
Bournemouth v Newcastle 6pm Sky/Pick
Arsenal v Norwich 6pm BT
Everton v Leicester 6pm Sky
West Ham v Chelsea 8.15pm Sky

Thursday 2 July
Sheffield United v Tottenham 6pm Sky
Manchester City v Liverpool 8.15pm Sky

Saturday 4 July
Norwich v Brighton 12.30pm BT
Leicester v C Palace 3pm Sky/Pick
Man Utd v Bournemouth 3pm BT
Wolves v Arsenal 5.30pm Sky
Chelsea v Watford 8pm Sky

Sunday 5 July
Burnley v Sheffield United 12pm Sky/Pick
Newcastle v West Ham 2pm Sky
Liverpool v Aston Villa 4.30pm Sky
Southampton v Man City 7pm BBC One

Monday 6 July
Tottenham v Everton 8pm Sky

Tuesday 7 July
Crystal Palace v Chelsea 6pm Sky
Watford v Norwich 6pm Sky/Pick
Arsenal v Leicester 8.15pm Sky

Wednesday 8 July
Man City v Newcastle 6pm BT
Sheffield Utd v Wolves 6pm Sky
West Ham v Burnley 6pm BT
Brighton v Liverpool 8.15pm Sky

Thursday 9 July
Bournemouth v Tottenham 6pm Sky/Pick
Everton v Southampton 6pm Amazon

Aston Villa v Man Utd 8.15pm Sky

Saturday 11 July
Norwich v West Ham 12.30pm BT
Watford v Newcastle 12.30pm Amazon
Liverpool v Burnley 3pm BT Sport
Sheffield Utd v Chelsea 5.30pm Sky
Brighton v Man City 8pm Sky

Sunday 12 July
Wolves v Everton 12pm Sky/Pick
Aston Villa v Crystal Palace 2pm Sky
Tottenham v Arsenal 4.30pm Sky
Bournemouth v Leicester 7pm Sky/Pick

Mon 13 July
Man Utd v Southampton 8pm Sky/Pick

Games in italics are free-to-air; later fixture dates and times TBC

Klopp feared the season would be declared null and void. “I didn’t think when we went to lockdown: ‘Oh my God, that is our season, we are so close,’ because it was not important in that moment. I became worried in the moment when people started talking about null and void this season because I was like ‘wow’. And I really felt it physically.

“That would have been really, really hard. We don’t expect to get it as a present, we didn’t want to have a points-per-game basis, so we were really happy when it was decided we could play again.

Klopp has a fully fit squad – with the exception of Xherdan Shaqiri – when he can become the first Liverpool manager to avoid defeat in their first 11 derbies.

He added: “What people outside make of it, I couldn’t care less. But if it will happen and we do become champions then we can tell people it was really difficult and rightly so, and really special. We cannot do a lot of things that we usually can do but in this specific case at least we can say this is really special. That’s why we enjoy the little asterisk there.”

source: theguardian.com