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Frank Lampard and Jurgen Klopp face off as Chelsea host Liverpool on Sunday
Chelsea and Liverpool have been a heated rivalry during the Premier League era, but the appointment of Frank Lampard at Stamford Bridge seems to have added an additional touch given his exchanges with Jurgen Klopp, on the touchline and in the media, in the last months.
Now, as Liverpool prepare for their first Premier League title defense away game, it is perhaps appropriate that they travel to Chelsea, the biggest summer spender and a club looking to close the gap with the champions to become true challengers this season. .
How the line started
Lampard was the visiting coach the night Liverpool celebrated its first title win in 30 years in July, and made his presence felt on the touchline with a few select words following a dispute with various figures on the opposition bench in Anfield.
“Fair play for Liverpool Football Club, they have won the league,” Lampard told Sky Sports after the game. “But don’t get too arrogant either. That was my point, but it’s done.”
1:02 How the fight between Lampard and Klopp started at Anfield last season
Klopp Response
Klopp may speak himself on the touchline, but he didn’t like Lampard’s decision to fan the flames after the final whistle with this accusation of arrogance.
“You can’t hit me with something like that, or my bench with something like that, because we are not arrogant,” replied the Liverpool manager.
“Frank was in a really competitive mood and I respect him a lot. From my point of view, you can say whatever you want in a situation like that. For me, it’s after the game. It’s completely over. He said a lot in the past because it’s sheer excitement, but what he has to learn is to end it with the final whistle and he didn’t.
“Talking after this is not okay. Frank has to learn. He has a long time to learn, he is a young coach. But he has to learn.”
Klopp expense claim
With the season over, everything seemed forgotten, but Klopp’s decision to highlight Chelsea’s spending and contrast it with Liverpool’s during the transfer window changed all that.
“We live in a world right now with a lot of uncertainty,” Klopp explained. “For some clubs it seems less important how uncertain the future is: owned by countries, owned by oligarchs, that’s the truth. We are a different kind of club.
“We reached the Champions League final two years ago, we won it last year, and we became Premier League champions last season by being the club that we are, by being guided by the path that they guide us. We cannot. change it overnight and say ‘so now we want to behave like Chelsea, now we want to behave like them “now they have signed a lot of players.”
Klopp spoke after Chelsea signed Timo Werner for £ 50m, a deal Liverpool deemed too rich for their tastes despite interest in the forward’s talent.
With Lampard also receiving the funding to acquire Hakim Ziyech, Thiago Silva, Ben Chilwell and Kai Havertz this summer, there is no denying that he has been backed.
0:31 Kai Havertz is confident that he can form an effective partnership with his German teammate Timo Werner at Chelsea.
However, the Chelsea manager is irritated by the idea that Liverpool’s journey to become Premier League champions was not due to considerable own expense.
Lampard Response
“It bothered me less, I found it a bit funny,” Lampard said. “It’s a fantastic story of a club, more than four and a half, five years that Jurgen Klopp has been there, that has brought the draft to a really high level.
“The really smart thing they’ve been doing is believing in their coach and his system for several years. It’s a great story, but it’s a story where money has been spent on players. What we’ve done is come out of suspension.” and tried to address the situation to improve. “
3:07 Lampard analyzes rivalry with Liverpool and his exchange with Klopp
Does Lampard have a point?
Here’s some mitigation that helps explain Chelsea’s generous spending. As Lampard alluded to, the club’s previous transfer ban had allowed them to rack up funds for the summer, so it was no surprise to see owner Roman Abramovich plunge into the market.
It’s also worth acknowledging that while Liverpool don’t have the kind of external funding that some of their rivals enjoy, this more organic growth has not impeded spending.
Alisson Becker came in for a world record fee for a goalkeeper when Liverpool paid £ 67 million for his services, while the £ 75 million paid by Virgil van Dijk was a world record for a defender.
Liverpool’s three brilliant forwards, Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, have proven to be bargains, but it still costs around £ 100 million to assemble at Anfield, while Klopp has options in a midfield that includes no fewer than five players. that cost £ 20 million or more.
5:03 Chelsea and Liverpool matches always have memorable moments – these are some of the best goals from their confrontations
But that’s not the whole story
Such an expense doesn’t seem that big when Anfield’s departures are taken into account. In fact, the Van Dijk purchase was fully financed in the same transfer window with the massive £ 145m fee that Barcelona paid for Philippe Coutinho in January.
Liverpool’s ingenious market work has allowed them to recoup money from the sale of team players, and Bournemouth paid large sums for Jordon Ibe and Dominic Solanke. Since Klopp’s arrival, the club’s net spending is a mere fraction of Manchester clubs.
It is a testament to Klopp’s excellent work, although there is perhaps an element of self-interest in Lampard’s claims that the German’s success is an argument for staying with a manager for an extended period. How he would love for Chelsea to wait so long for a first trophy.
But Klopp’s track record demanded time as he won back-to-back Bundesliga titles with Borussia Dortmund. While Lampard had lost a championship playoff final to Derby County at Wembley, Klopp’s high-profile loss had come in the Champions League final.
Chelsea vs Liverpool
September 20, 2020, 4:00 pm
To live 
Minimizing rivalry
In the immediate preparation for the game, both managers sought to calm the mood, painting this alleged rivalry as a media construct rather than a case of genuine animosity.
“There is a lot of time in the air that you have to fill with conversations about these rivalries, so I understand that sometimes they can be analyzed in all possible ways,” Lampard said.
“I have great respect for him as a coach, I always have. What he has done at Liverpool over time has been incredible and that is for him as the focal point of the club. There is nothing in that” for me. . The competitive nature of the 90 minutes can always be extended a bit. The respect I have for Jurgen Klopp will never change. “
1:24 Jurgen Klopp says the signing of Thiago Alcântara was a ‘win-win’, with the player and club excited to team up
Klopp has also sought to defuse the rivalry.
“When you ask me a question, I answer it and everyone takes it as they want,” he added. “It could be a language problem or something. You made up a story I told about ‘Chelsea transfer behavior’. What I said was that in the situation that we are in, we cannot deal with the situation in the same way. than other clubs, one of them was Chelsea.
“So you create a rivalry between Frank Lampard and me. Why? We meet two or three times a year. I respect very much what he’s doing. He’s probably a very nice guy, but I don’t know because I don’t know him privately and I don’t knows me.
“I have no problems, none at all, with Frank Lampard.”
Will the truce hold? Find out on Sunday.
How to follow
Chelsea vs Liverpool will air live on Sky Sports Premier League starting at 4pm on Saturday; start at 4.30 pm. Sky Sports customers can view clips of the game on the Live Match Blog on the Sky Sports website and app. The highlights will also be posted on Sky Sports digital platforms and on the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel shortly after the final whistle.
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