God will judge me one day – Klopp not concerned by his Liverpool legacy

Jurgen Klopp “couldn’t be less interested” in what people say about him and insists winning trophies will not define his Liverpool reign.

The former Borussia Dortmund boss has steered the Reds to successive top-four finishes in the Premier League but has come up short in three finals, including last season’s Champions League showpiece against Real Madrid.

Liverpool also lost out to Manchester City and Sevilla in the finals of the EFL Cup and Europa League respectively in the German’s first season in charge.

The Reds are still fighting for glory on two fronts this season – they have been drawn to play Porto in the Champions League quarter-finals – but Klopp is unconcerned by talk he must win silverware to be remembered as a success.

“You can’t imagine how less interested I am in that,” he told the media when asked about leaving a legacy at Liverpool.

“I’m never all about myself in the job. My job is to do whatever I can to help the team be as successful as possible, not searching to be remembered in 50 years when people speak about me.

“I love what I do, I think I have a fantastic team out there and that’s all that I need to be a happy person.

“I respect a lot the desire of all the people, and all the players, and I can be part of that dream, but it’s not for me at the end, it’s for the people.”

He added: “I’m not interested in who judges me. God will judge me one day. What other people say, I couldn’t be less interested.”

Bobby x VVDpic.twitter.com/rSlZhL3DoV

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) March 14, 2019

After beating Bayern Munich in European action in midweek, Liverpool return to Premier League duty on Sunday with a trip to Fulham.

However, knowing Manchester City will have a game in hand due to their FA Cup quarter-final against Swansea City this weekend, Klopp does not believe taking over top spot with a win at Craven Cottage will have any impact on their rivals in the title race.

“Being ahead of City itself is not that important, but we want to win the game at the weekend,” he said during his pre-match media conference on Friday.

“The game in hand of City is Manchester United, I think, so for sure not an easy one. But it [the title race] is not decided at the weekend. All the stories will be written, but we will accept them because it means we won the game.

“The only thing we think about is winning the game. We haven’t struggled psychologically because we are not ahead of them any more.

“If there is something to celebrate at the end of the season we will be the first involved in that. Until then, let’s play football.”