Jurgen Klopp has admitted he wasn’t following Man City’s match with Tottenham when revealing how he had found out Pep Guardiola’s side had lost.
Liverpool had come from behind to beat Norwich City on Saturday to narrow the gap on the reigning champions at the top of the table to six points, but with City hosting Spurs that evening, they had been expected to extend the lead once again.
However, Harry Kane’s stoppage-time winner secured a dramatic win for Antonio Conte’s men, giving the Reds the opportunity to narrow the gap at the top further to three points against Leeds United on Wednesday.
And Klopp admitted he had just assumed City would avoid defeat and thought they had actually won the match when he was later told the final score.
“I was on the way home when it was 2-1 Tottenham,” he told reporters. “Then I arrived at home and didn’t follow it anymore because I was sure they would equalise anyway.
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“Then we went out and the driver was very excited and told me that it was 2-2 and then 3-2. When he said 3-2, I thought City won 3-2 and he said, “No, Tottenham won 3-2.” “Oh.” That was my reaction.
“For us, nothing changed really. We have to win, we have to win all our games. You can expect that, or we expect that (Man City to win all their games). Traditionally, historically, it happens more often than not, that they pretty much win all their games.
“Okay, we play them once. That’s the one game we want to win, definitely. If it would be 12 points or 15 points, it would be a completely different situation.
“But for the game now, it doesn’t change too much. Nothing changes actually and that’s why we have to be 100% focussed on just this one game because we cannot win the game and the league and everything in one game.
“We just have to try to make sure we win a very difficult Premier League game.”
He continued: “We have so many games to play and yes, if we could win them all it’s a title-race. If not then it’s maybe not a title-race. I don’t know exactly.
“I’m not too interested but I understand it 100%. People get excited about it, good because they are not completely out of reach anymore. But it’s a really tricky situation.
“I don’t prepare for press conferences but today I didn’t think a second about the title-race. I just thought about Leeds when I came in here and what you could ask about. Yeah, I know, you don’t usually ask about the opponent. We talk about the other stuff but I am naive enough to still think about the next opponent.
“I have nothing to say about it really. I am really happy about the results we have had in the last few weeks. They obviously brought us some points and some confidence as well in different competitions as well. That is really good.
“But a minute after the Norwich game, it’s over and we just have to think about Leeds. There are so many things that can happen in football.
“Everyone thinks now we are close and it’s only three points. No, it’s six points and we play Leeds. I am just not made for it.
“I cannot count points before we played the game. If other people do that, that’s okay because they are not directly involved but we have to be ready for an incredibly intense game and a big fight against Leeds United.”
