In a life before football, Jurgen Klopp knows he would have still been in the entertainment business — as a court jester.
Klopp is thrilling millions as the manager of a Liverpool team setting fresh standards of excellence, and none of his rivals are laughing.
As a third Champions League Final beckons for Klopp – after Liverpool’s fairytale comeback from 3-0 down in the semi-final first-leg to win 4-0 at Anfield – the Kop boss is thanking his lucky stars.
For he counts himself lucky to be born when he was — otherwise, life would have been very different for the jocular German.
“I’m really blessed to be where I am,” said Klopp. “It’s unbelievable.
Shock Liverpool and Man City results needed for first ever Premier League title playoff
“Most of my colleagues have to work their whole life and don’t get to Champions League Finals. They’re fantastic coaches, but maybe just haven’t had the teams I’ve had and so they haven’t had the experience of facing Bayern Munich or Real Madrid in a Champions League Final.
“Otherwise, I think about myself as a completely normal person. OK, I know a little bit more about football than some other people, that’s true. But that doesn’t make me a special person. It is only luck, because 500 years ago that knowledge wouldn’t have helped me.
“I could have been a jester dancing in front of the king — but I would have slept in the street.
“So I’m really very fortunate that my best skill is somehow needed out there. And I appreciate that every single day, because I know field hockey coaches who work five times harder and earn four per cent of what I earn.
7 Liverpool players who may not get winners' medal if Reds lift Premier League title
"I’m smart enough not to overestimate that.”
Klopp’s also sparing a thought for his old headteacher, who thought his football obsession was just a pipe dream.
“I’m lucky!” he said. “When I was at school doing my A levels, I won a sports prize. My best friends won the science prize, the language prize and I got a sports prize. And the head teacher said, ‘I hope it works out for you with football, I really do. Because, if not, I’m really worried about you!’”
After losing six of his last seven finals as a manager, redemption is on the horizon for Klopp if he beats Tottenham in an all-Premier League Champions League Final at Atletico Madrid's Wanda Metropolitano Stadium on June 1.
And he reckons the pain of losing last year’s final to Real Madrid has given Liverpool the tools to get the job done this time.
El-Hadji Diouf reignites Jamie Carragher feud over Liverpool career
“The journey last year has helped us a lot, because it was difficult. It was a really interesting experience. Losing is a very interesting experience,” he said. “It’s not something you necessarily want, but it’s like a very strong medicine. And if you take it, it can help.
“I lost the last six finals I was in. They were hardly the best days of my life, but also they didn’t make me a broken person or whatever.”
Klopp told German TV magazine DW : “For me, life is about trying again and again. If only the winners were allowed to survive then we’d all have to go. It’s all about experiences and how we use them and what we make of them.”
But while Liverpool fans are excitedly looking ahead to their club's sixth European Cup, Klopp knows deep down that the prize they all really want is a first league title since 1990.
Andy Robertson 'identified as Barcelona transfer target' after impressing for Liverpool
As Liverpool play Wolves at Anfield on Sunday, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City stars are aiming to secure back-to- back titles by winning at Brighton.
If City slip up though and Klopp’s men win, it’s Liverpool’s title. And, although Europe is the pinnacle for every club outside the Premier League, he knows where the priority lies for fans.
“I cannot make that decision about which is more important when we play games,” he added.
“You have to play your best football in every game. But, if you ask the fans, it’s an obvious answer – they want to win the league more than anything. I know that.”
