After arriving in Bangkok, Jurgen Klopp has been speaking to the press and expressing his excitement at visiting Thailand and playing in front of so many passionate supporters.
The Merseysiders received a warm welcome at Don Mueang Airport as hundreds of fans greeted the 37-man travelling squad.
The Reds will face Manchester United and Crystal Palace whilst in Asia and the German boss ultimately admitted that he’s not overly fussed about the results of either game, but more so putting on a show for the fans and strengthening the relationship with their international supporters.
“Thank you very much for the really warm welcome we received already,” Klopp said.
“It’s really nice. It’s my first proper time in Thailand and I’ve heard so many good things about it.
“We look forward to the game obviously, and to have some time to spend in the city. We are here for all of you and we hope we can have a good time together, and tie the knot between us and our supporters here in Thailand a little bit more.”
It’s always nice to taste victory over your bitter rivals, though, and the 54-year-old labelled the clash with Erik Ten Hag’s side as ‘an important test’.
He also explained that Liverpool ‘don’t play friendlies’, implying that although he may not admit it, he does want to defeat the Red Devils.
Klopp added: “Usually football matches are the most important thing for us. But in this specific case it’s really more for the people.
“We have 37 players – all generations here – and we have to use all of them. The boys who were on international duty in the summer only arrived today pretty much. They cannot play too long but we will try to give them a few minutes as well.
“Manchester United. New manager. Trained a little bit longer than us. Not sure, but might be in a better situation in the moment. We see it as an important test because it’s against United – and we don’t play friendlies!”
We done the double over United last season and defeated them by an aggregate score of 9-0.
The gap between the two sides is bigger than it has been in a long long while and its quite frankly great to see.
Ten Hag is a great manager, however, and will do all he can to rebuild the Old Trafford outfit and get them back competing for silverware.
Hopefully it’s more of the same for us next term – we came agonisingly close to completing a glorious quadruple last term so it would be nice to once again compete on all fronts for as long as possible.
A strong pre-season is therefore imperative and we hope the lads return from Asia in a good shape and feeling ready for the new campaign.
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