Jürgen Klopp said he believed Liverpool would be denied an opportunity to win the Premier League after the season’s coronavirus pandemic was ruled null and void.
When soccer was suspended on March 13, Liverpool was 25 points away from Manchester City, and just six points short of securing the club’s first league championship since 1990.
The pursuit of the title restarts against Everton and Klopp on Sunday admitted there were times during the lockdown when he felt that Liverpool’s outstanding efforts would be genuinely and physically in vain.
The Liverpool manager asked if he thought the season would be ruled null and void: “Personally yes. I didn’t think when we went to lockdown: ‘Oh my God, this is our season, we’re so near,’ because at that moment it wasn’t essential. I became worried when people started talking about null and void this season because I was like ‘wow.’ And I felt that physically. That was difficult. We didn’t expect to get it as a gift, we didn’t want to have a point-per-game basis so we were happy when it was decided we could play again.”
Klopp, who has a completely fit squad ready for the derby at Goodison Park, said his players don’t feel the fate of the championship is a foregone conclusion.
He said, “We don’t suppose we ‘re there in our minds. We know the table situation, we have seen City playing, all the other teams that we see. To get to where we are this season we needed a lot of work, but we also needed luck and that’s what we need again. The coming weeks will be tougher than tough. I hope I can enjoy it because hard work is never a problem for us but we have to make sure we play the best football we can play. So we’re going to be okay and we’re going to see what we ‘re going to have to celebrate and how we’re going to be celebrating, but these things are just important when they happen, not before.”
