Klopp: “I love the fact that we have so many African players … until the Africa Cup of Nations starts. Then it’s: ‘Oh my God!’”

“It’s still better than it used to be because before they were out in the middle of the season. That was really something we had in our minds always.”

Klopp on football racism:

"In football we never thought about racism. If some idiots were shouting something, you realised it but you were saying: ‘Are you mad? What are you doing?’ There wasn’t social media so it didn’t get the awareness of today.

“It was usually a single person & if he did it, he would get a slap and go home. He wouldn’t do it again. These days the story becomes bigger and bigger through the reaction. It’s a shame that we are still talking about things like this but that’s how society is.”

Klopp: "my wife worked and lived in Africa. In Kenya. In a German school.

Our elder son lived there for a couple of years so they are really interested in Africa. She was a teacher. She helped me to understand some of the culture.”