According to German photographer Paul Ripke, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is “the George Clooney of football,” with the Reds coach finding himself in a league of his own in terms of personality and management skills.
Ripke, who accompanied the Formula 1 star Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton during their respective championship seasons, rose to fame after taking a series of pictures of the now famous German national team. They won the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
His photography career only flourished from there, taking shots of some of the world’s most famous athletes and sportsmen – one of whom was Klopp after he swapped Borussia Dortmund to Liverpool.
“Jurgen Klopp is super brazen. He’s playing in a league above the Champions League somehow-in a World Champions League or something. Klopp is Football’s George Clooney, he’s on the same level that Clooney is on with acting,” Ripke said in an exclusive Target and SPOX interview.
He added: “Her social skills particularly struck me. I thought it was crazy, two days after we were together for five minutes when he joked with me. He remembered what I used to wear, things like that. Of course, when I was in Liverpool I didn’t just want to take boring training pictures. I wanted to get a picture of Klopp in the street like the Beatles, that would have been a lot better, but he didn’t want it.”
