B Redman

🚨 Pep Guardiola on Jurgen Klopp’s embrace with Florian Wirtz: “After the game, Jurgen walks onto the pitch, sees Florian and hugs him like he hasn’t seen the boy in five years. (laughs) People see a nice moment. I see a problem. Because I spent years competing against this man. I know what happens next. One day at City, one of my staff showed me footage from Liverpool training. Klopp was laughing with the players, grabbing somebody around the neck, hugging another one. I said: ‘Turn it off.’ He asked, ‘Why?’ I said, ‘Because on Sunday these same people are going to run at us like we’ve insulted their families.’ That’s Jurgen. People talk about tactics, pressing, intensity. Of course. But before players run for your tactics, they have to want to run for you. Look at Florian tonight. He’s had difficult weeks. Jurgen gives him responsibility, he plays beautifully, scores, and after the final whistle the manager doesn’t walk over like, ‘Good performance, see you tomorrow.’ He grabs him. No cameras needed. No speech. Just: ‘That’s my boy.’ And now you’ve created a monster. (laughs) Because the next time Jurgen asks Florian to press somebody for 90 minutes, Florian isn’t thinking about pressing. He’s thinking: ‘This man believes in me.’ That’s how Klopp creates warriors. I used to prepare City to play Liverpool and tell my players: ‘Be careful. You’re not only playing eleven footballers.’ They’d ask, ‘What else are we playing?’ I’d say: ‘Eleven footballers who don’t want to disappoint Jurgen Klopp.’ Tactics can prepare you for the first problem. I never found a tactical solution for the second one.”