Liverpool match Borussia Dortmund’s team spirit – Klopp

Former Borussia Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp.

 

 

Jurgen Klopp has likened the atmosphere at Liverpool to that of his successful Borussia Dortmund sides.
Klopp’s Dortmund teams took home two Bundesliga titles and reached the final of the Champions League in 2013, and Klopp, who took the reins at Anfield in October of 2015 says he feels a similar vibe at the Merseyside.
“I am still in contact with a lot of the Dortmund players and hopefully I will be in contact after my time at Liverpool with these players because they are nice lads. That is first of all,” Klopp told multiple outlets in the UK.
“But they are not here because they are nice lads; they are outstanding footballers and I love working with them and really appreciate them.
“We have an atmosphere which is as good as it should be because of all the people working here. We had our Christmas party last week and it was really nice having all the people around. It was a big difference after one year because you know all of them.
“After three months I still had no idea the name of certain staff. We have a completely different situation to last year. It is not the same but similar to what we had at Dortmund.”
Klopp could have defender Joel Matip available against Stoke for their match on Tuesday after keeping the Cameroon international out against Everton at Goodison Park.
But the German boss says Ragner Klaven, who has played in Matip’s stead, is getting more comfortable in the Premier League following a £4.2 million summer move from Augsburg.
“We were never in doubt about him,” Klopp said. “That is how we always work. We always decide for the player, not against the other one.
“We saw the good moment Ragnar and Lucas Leiva were in. Joe Gomez is in a good way too. It was clear there is no reason for rushing Joel back even though everyone outside thought that without Matip we could not get anything.
“That was good and I said a few times before that timing is very important. A few weeks ago Ragnar was not struggling but he was not that player he is now because he still needed to adapt a little bit to all the circumstances. Now he is in a really good moment and we should use it.”