Klopp pays tribute to Maradona

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VIDEO SHOWS: POST-MATCH COMMENTS FROM LIVERPOOL COACH JUERGEN KLOPP TALKING ABOUT DIEGO MARADONA

SHOWS: LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND, UK (NOVEMBER 25, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

1. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIVERPOOL MANAGER, JUERGEN KLOPP, ON DIEGO MARADONA, SAYING:

"I had the honour to meet him once. As a 53-year-old man, loving football as long as I can think, he is one of the greatest ever. Was one of the greatest ever. And I saw not so long ago the documentary, which I think is exceptional, to be honest. And you could see there was Diego, which was an unbelievable football player and there was Maradona, who struggled slightly with all the things around. When you are a young person and the people go crazy wherever you go, that's not so easy and he had his fights with that, one hundred per cent.

"But I will miss Diego and Maradona because he's just an, yeah, he was just an, what a footballer he was, unbelievable."

2. WHITE FLASH

3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIVERPOOL MANAGER, JUERGEN KLOPP, ON DIEGO MARADONA, SAYING:

"Yeah, he showed all of us what would be possible if he would be, we all seem to struggle obviously and fight with our limits as a football player. So, is it technique? Is it endurance? Is it attitude? Whatever, and he just showed us that you don't have to be the tallest, you maybe don't have to be the most busy person in training, you don't have to be always in time. You just, it's possible you still can be the best player in the world. And he loved this game so much, you could see that in each second when you watched him playing, even his warming up was special.

"So, yeah, there was Pele, for German people it was (Franz) Beckenbauer, I don't know exactly who was it for England, but you all had these absolute heroes who, were it looks really completely easy, football. It looks like there was no effort necessary. But they trained a lot and they were just skilled and they understood the game on a completely different level, and that's what Maradona did as well. He understood the game on a different level. He knew what other players would do before they knew what they will do. So, that made him really special and, of course, he pushed football on a different level, clearly."

STORY: Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp paid tribute to soccer great Diego Maradona who died on Wednesday (November 25).

Speaking after his side's 2-0 home defeat at the hands of Atlanta in the Champions League, the German described the Argentinean as "one of the greatest ever".

Klopp said there were two aspects to Maradona, 'Diego' the soccer player and 'Maradona', the troubled superstar who struggled with aspects of his life.

"When you are a young person and the people go crazy wherever you go, that's not so easy and he had his fights with that, one hundred per cent.

"But I will miss Diego and Maradona," Klopp added, "what a footballer he was, unbelievable."

(Production: Andy Ragg)