“It was a joke.”
Jurgen Klopp was answering questions from English, Spanish, German and Norwegian journalists in his post-match press conference so the attempted joke could have been lost in translation.
Liverpool 2, Tottenham 0 and another major trophy was heading back to Merseyside.
Klopp spoke with the press for a little over 12 minutes before Champions League final man of the match freed him up to rejoin his victorious Liverpool team.
The Liverpool boss was in top form, during the press briefing, and revealed he had told Uefa officials that his side would be in Instanbul next year to defend their trophy. Given this side’s form over the past two seasons, you would not rule them out of a return to the scene of their fifth European Cup win.
For Klopp, though, he was more than happy to ‘talk about six’ in Madrid.
Despite the fact that they finished second to Manchester City in the Premier League, there is very little in their current squad that needs changing. James Milner will be 34 next season and they could do with getting in another top quality centre back, but they are in good shape.
Asked about Liverpool’s good memories of Istanbul – where they beat Milan on penalties – Klopp made his odd joke about a phone call with Pep Guardiola.
“We know that we carry the burden of history. And making Istanbul happen again… yeah we’ll be a target, I would say. It would be difficult.
“By the way, a second ago I spoke to Pep Guardiola on the phone. As you know, our head physio [Lee Nobes] worked for Manchester City at the start of the year… but he wanted to win the Champions League! No, it’s a joke.”
The remark got a few titters but many will wonder why Guardiola came to Klopp’s mind on a night that was all about Liverpool’s sixth European Cup.
It is Guardiola’s fervent desire to win the Champions League with City. He won two with Barcelona but the last one was in 2011 and he has been unable to replicate that success with Bayern Munich and, thus far, City.
“We promised each other that we will kick each other’s butts again next season,” Klopp said, as he continued with the Guardiola theme. “We will go for everything and see what we get.
“Getting 97 points in the Premier League and winning the Champions League is an unbelievable long way to go and we did it. That’s incredible.
“Now we’ve won something, we will carry on. We will win things. That is big. I am really happy.”
