Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has confessed he sees meetings with Manchester United as ‘the derby’ in his season.
The Reds are involved in their own Merseyside derby against city rivals Everton but clashes against historic foes United, which stem from both clubs’ pursuit of record trophy hauls, has long been one of the most intense fixtures in English football.
Ahead of Sunday’s meeting between the two sides, Klopp insisted he was under no illusion as to just how important victory over United is for Liverpool.
“It is the derby for me, to be honest,” he told Sky Sports. “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.
“I think for both [teams] pretty much it’s worth more than three points, just because I know that United they are still 100% 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.”
Despite the importance of the game, Klopp admitted one match will not dictate his side’s quest to secure an unlikely spot in the Premier League’s top four.
“The important thing about the chase is that the chase is not a one-day trip, you really have to go for it,” he explained. “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 loss] 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.”
