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Klopp: Liverpool need 'biggest balls' to take next step against Manchester United

Jurgen Klopp urged his players to show their "biggest balls" against Manchester United as the Liverpool manager aims to break new ground on Sunday.

By Matt Dorman
Jurgen Klopp

Manchester, October 20: Jurgen Klopp urged his players to show their "biggest balls" against Manchester United as the Liverpool manager aims to break new ground on Sunday (October 20).

The European champions have won all eight of their Premier League matches this season but will have to make history to secure three points against their bitter rivals.

Liverpool, riding high in top spot, have failed to win at Old Trafford in four visits with Klopp in charge.

Last season's stalemate was one of three draws on the German's record and the result proved costly as Manchester City pipped the Reds to the title by a solitary point.

"Winning there would be a big next step," Klopp said. "It's not a step we have to make otherwise we cannot develop, no.

"But, of course, for our own history with me it is obviously something we have not achieved yet.

"This team wrote their own story and made their own history and this would be another step. But we cannot make it by simply talking about it.

"We have to go there and play the best football we can play, with the biggest balls, being ready for each challenge, fighting for every ball, all that stuff.

"That is what we have to do. If we can play our game, we are really an uncomfortable opponent."

Klopp will not be the only key Liverpool figure seeking to end a curious drought in one of the division's showpiece fixtures.

Star forward Mohamed Salah is yet to register a single goal in four Premier League appearances against United but should get the chance to open his account facing a team languishing in 14th.

"It is difficult to know what he's thinking," Klopp said of Salah, who will undergo a fitness test on the ankle he injured against Leicester City before the international break.

"If someone had told me he'd never scored against United I would have said: 'Really?'.

"I suppose the more you go without scoring against an opponent there may be one moment when you start scoring against them.

"All these games are big tests. I don't see it as a specific test for him, but, yes, it is a big test. And sometimes there will be old-school challenges and you have to be ready for them."

Story first published: Sunday, October 20, 2019, 14:12 [IST]
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