Jurgen Klopp wasted no time in firing a cheeky dig at Liverpool ’s fierce rivals Manchester United shortly after arriving in Bangkok.
The Reds have flown to Thailand for the first leg of their pre-season tour of Asia. They are set to tackle fierce rivals United in a pre-season friendly before then taking on fellow Premier League side Crystal Palace in Singapore. Ahead of the two matches, a press conference was held at the airport with Klopp and both James Milner and Jordan Henderson fielding questions from journalists.
Before the proceedings began, Klopp himself had a question and fired a cheeky tease towards the Red Devils regarding the warm welcome that his side had received in the country, with supporters and press mobbing the recent Champions League and Premier League runners-up.
He said: "First question I have...did it look like this yesterday when Manchester was here as well?"
A couple of the gathered journalists then got involved themselves with a few replies of “no” from the background.
Klopp’s tease is likely to stir hostilities between the two teams as they clash in what is meant to be a non-competitive fixture. However, the German does not believe that will be the case considering the history between the two sides.
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He continued: "Usually football matches are the most important thing for us. But in this specific case it's really more for the people.
"We have 37 players - all generations here - and we have to use all of them. The boys who were on international duty in the summer only arrived today pretty much. They cannot play too long but we will try to give them a few minutes as well.
"Manchester United. New manager. Trained a little bit longer than us. Not sure, but might be in a better situation in the moment. We see it as an important test because it's against United - and we don't play friendlies!"
Liverpool will no doubt be aiming to continue their stunning form against their fierce rivals in Thailand. The Reds have only lost two out of their last 15 meetings with Man Utd.
They of course racked up two emphatic victories last term with the Red Devils having endured a horrendous season under initially Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and then Ralf Rangnick. Liverpool won the first bout 5-0 at Old Trafford, Mohamed Salah notching a memorable hat-trick with Naby Keita and Diogo Jota also getting on the scoresheet.
It did not get much better for Man Utd at Anfield back in April. Liverpool won 4-0 with Salah scoring twice, with Luis Diaz and Sadio Mane rounding off another comprehensive victory for the Reds.
