Jurgen Klopp: Liverpool motivated by fans not 'Holy Grail' of title win

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Figure caption,

Liverpool were unbelievable - Klopp

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says his players are not motivated by the "Holy Grail" of the Premier League title but by the club's supporters.

The Anfield club have not won the title since 1990 but went back to the top with a 2-0 win in Cardiff. They are two points clear of Manchester City.

"If you are only motivated to win the Holy Grail, then something is wrong with you," said Klopp.

"We want to win football games because we enjoy the ride with the fans."

Second-half goals from Georginio Wijnaldum and James Milner gave Klopp's side a deserved win in south Wales that took them to their highest Premier League points total of 88.

City can go back top if they beat rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford in their game in hand on Wednesday (20:00 BST kick-off).

Liverpool's best Premier League seasons

Points

Season

Final position

Top scorer

Manager

88*

2018-19

N/A

Mohamed Salah (23)*

Jurgen Klopp

86

2008-09

2nd

Steven Gerrard (24)

Rafael Benitez

84

2013-14

2nd

Luis Suarez (31)

Brendan Rodgers

82

2005-06

3rd

Steven Gerrard (23)

Rafael Benitez

80

2001-02

2nd

Michael Owen (29)

Gerard Houllier

76

2007-08

4th

Fernando Torres (33)

Rafael Benitez

76

2016-17

4th

Philippe Coutinho (14)

Jurgen Klopp

75

2017-18

4th

Mohamed Salah (44)

Jurgen Klopp

* season ongoing

Klopp said: "In the end, we will see how many points we have and then we get what we get.

"We are motivated to play for this club. We have no influence on the other games, it is how it is. Our next game is against Huddersfield, which will be difficult again for different reasons.

"Some people up in Liverpool might ask us if we are thinking about Barcelona in the Champions League semi-finals. We will be completely focused on Huddersfield.

"On Wednesday, there is a game as well [between Manchester United and Manchester City]. When we played Manchester United, they were in a much better moment than they are now and that was 0-0."

Klopp was unhappy - as was counterpart Neil Warnock - that Cardiff had not watered the pitch during the game, but said his side had prepared for that.

"The ball didn't roll like normal. Everybody saw it," he said. "It doesn't make football easy when the pitch is dry.

"Dry pitches are dangerous for players injury-wise. I don't know exactly why the pitch was dry - but we were prepared.

"We trained yesterday for one hour and 10 minutes on a bone-dry pitch just to get used to it."

Race for the Premier League title

Date

Liverpool fixtures

Date

Man City fixtures

24 April

Manchester United (A)

26 April

Huddersfield (H)

28 April

Burnley (A)

4 May

Newcastle (A)

6 May

Leicester (H)

12 May

Wolves (H)

12 May

Brighton (A)

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