Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer deserves the progress he’s been following at the club.
United finished second in the Premier League for the first time since 2018 and is close to reaching the Europa League final after beating Roma 6-2 in the semi-finals on Thursday.
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Before Liverpool’s visit to Old Trafford on Sunday, Klopp praised the Norwegian for making United challengers again.
“It’s nice to see when a manager’s quality is more important than the experience you’ve had,” said Klopp.
“As a manager, when you have 50 Champions League games to play before you compete against a club like Manchester United, it is difficult to find one as there aren’t many coaches who have that experience.”
“I think it’s clear that if Ole hadn’t had a successful history as a Man United player, then probably not so many people at United would have thought of him, but because he did a brilliant job at Molde and has a Manchester history , that was the idea and nobody knew how it would work.
Jürgen Klopp has not won a win at Old Trafford in his career as a manager in Liverpool. Photo by John Powell / Liverpool FC via Getty Images
“It worked absolutely sensationally from the start and then subsided a bit, and now they look really good and he deserves that together with his coaches. I’m glad he’s being honest because I’m really happy to have a colleague. ” do really well and he does that too. “
If Liverpool win at United, Manchester City will be crowned Premier League champions for the third time in four years.
Liverpool also face a difficult task to secure Champions League qualification next season as they are seven points behind fourth-placed Chelsea.
Virgil van Dijk’s absence has played a big part in Liverpool’s bad season since October, following a knee injury in the Merseyside derby at Everton, in which the defender was knocked out.
There have been suggestions that the center-back could return for the Netherlands at the European Championships this summer, but Klopp said Van Dijk will not be back in action.
“I don’t want to hold him back, but you can’t force it either,” he added. “If you want to take part in a tournament, you have to have had proper soccer training beforehand. You can’t have 10 or 11 months off and train for a week and play soccer, that’s just not possible.”
“Noboby is holding him back, I can promise everyone in Holland but we can’t force it. We are talking about a player and his career so nobody should force it and nobody will – not Holland, not us and not Virgil.
“He’s just trying to get fit as soon as possible, but nobody knows when that will be exactly. You can imagine that it will be very tight for the Euros because he’s not yet in team training and will be in the next few weeks it won’t be the end, it’s Virgil’s decision and he’s influenced by the feeling in his knee. “
