Jurgen Klopp says Steven Gerrard is 'allowed' to celebrate against Liverpool - but hopes his side can prevent that from happening.
The Reds take on Aston Villa in the Premier League on Saturday in what will be Gerrard's first return to Anfield in a professional capacity since he left the club as a player in 2015.
The Liverpool legend replaced Dean Smith as Villa manager last month and has won three out of his four matches in charge so far - with his only defeat coming in a narrow 2-1 loss to Manchester City.
Gerrard had a season in charge of Liverpool’s Under-18s and went on to spend three years at Glasgow Rangers before taking over at Villa Park.
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And Klopp has used his own experiences to provide an insight into how the Reds' Champions League-winning captain might be feeling going into the weekend’s game.
“It’s a wonderful story, and I can imagine a little bit how he’s feeling, “ said the Liverpool boss in his pre-match press conference.
“Stevie is already an experienced coach, he’s been doing the job for a while and he knows exactly how to approach games.
“But he probably has no idea how he will feel when he steps into the stadium or the dugout.
“I had that in a similar way when I went back to Mainz for the first time or with the first and last time with Liverpool against Borussia Dortmund.
“It’s strange. You like or love all of the people that you meet when you arrive, and that’s pretty much not often the case when you go somewhere. It’s easy to be very competitive, usually.
“I could handle it, so Stevie will handle it. He is friends with 99.99% of the people working for Liverpool, and the other 0.01% have never met him.
“I never heard a negative word about Steven Gerrard. He’s a great guy and he will come here and want to win a football game.
“Before and after we will shake hands, they will go full throttle and he will go full throttle.
“I remembered when we scored for Dortmund at Mainz, I forgot everything and my story with Mainz. I was celebrating like a crazy devil.
“He’s allowed to do that as well, I just hope he has no reason for it.”
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The subject of Gerrard one day being Liverpool manager cropped up in the press conference.
Klopp’s current deal keeps him as Reds boss until 2024.
And if he decides to leave at the time, Gerrard is expected to be one of the leading candidates to replace him.
"Yes, absolutely,” said Klopp, when asked if he thinks Gerrard will manage Liverpool one day.
“The only problem is when is the right moment for that. That’s not about Stevie but we saw it with Frank (Lampard) at Chelsea.
“So it’s about when it’s the right moment to take the job, not that he’s not able to do it but for how long you want to do it.
“Is it the last job you do, is it the first, second or third. Those are questions I cannot answer.
“I think it will definitely happen and it will be good for everybody."
Klopp continued: "It's not me who will make these kinds of decisions. I don't know what you have to do before you become Liverpool manager.
“People say you need to win things, I’m not sure about that. I think it’s more important that you win things while you are here.
“You don’t need to have won things in the past or be a proven winner. You can win things in the past and then never win again.
"I can't see a scenario where I will be involved in that decision, but who knows what the future will bring."
