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(Reuters) – Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said on Friday he was not concerned whether the outcome of his top-of-the-table clash with Manchester United this weekend would have a say in the title race.
Leader United and champion Liverpool, the division’s two most successful teams, are separated by three points before Sunday’s game at Anfield, where Klopp’s side have not lost since April 2017.
However, Klopp said he was not worried about his home record or United taking the lead in the title race as there was still a “long way to go” on the season with Manchester City third, too. in the race.
“Winning a soccer game, beating United is enough in itself, there doesn’t need to be a special element that we have a home game and we want to win,” Klopp told reporters.
“There is no additional complement in the game because they are in the situation they are in. They deserve the points they have so far and we have ours.
“Manchester City is a game away and also very close … We don’t constantly think about other teams. We just try to win football games and United are good, they always were.”
Klopp had already stoked the fire ahead of the derby when he said earlier this month that United won more penalties in two years than in 5 1/2 years in Liverpool.
United striker Marcus Rashford said former coach José Mourinho helped him to be more “smart” in the penalty area, but Klopp said he had never advised his players to do the same.
“I can say 100% honestly that I have never mentioned anything like this to any player I have ever worked with,” Klopp said as he explained how he felt bad when Sadio Mane was denied a penalty in the 1-0 loss at Southampton. .
“It is not the player who must make the decision of whether it is a penalty or not, it is the referee.”
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; edited by Toby Davis)
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