Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp would welcome his side's title win having "an asterisk" next to it as the Reds should be remembered for winning it in the most challenging circumstances.
Klopp's men were 25 points clear at the top of the Premier League when play was halted in March due to the coronavirus pandemic. There were times during the enforced break where the option of cancelling the season was discussed, but with play in England's top division now back underway, the Reds are set to secure their first-ever Premier League title.
?️ ???? ????? ?? ?? ???????? ???? ????????? ??? ??? ??????? ?????? ????? ???? ??????? ?*@_scottsaunders spoke with @Carra23 and @GNev2 about Liverpool's inevitable title...#SkySports | @SkySportsPL pic.twitter.com/XM9lI1VShG
— 90min (@90min_Football) June 17, 2020
Liverpool require just six more points to make it official and now speaking ahead of his side's clash with Everton on Sunday, Klopp has shared his thoughts on whether their Premier League win will be tainted.
The question of whether there is an asterisk next to Liverpool's name has even been put to Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher by 90min, with Carragher suggesting that he has 19 asterisks ready due to the records they've broken.
Klopp has also welcomed the asterisk, explaining that it would illustrate their achievements in these unprecedented times.
“Give us an asterisk. Yes. Do it. Because it is the most difficult year and season to become champions ever. One hundred per cent,” Klopp said, as quoted by the Telegraph.
“If it will happen and we do become champions, which I don’t know, then we can tell them it was really difficult and rightly so, and really special. That’s why we enjoy the little asterisk there.
“An interrupted season like this has never happened before. Whoever will be champions at the end, it will be historical because it is a year that we will never forget because hopefully it is the only year we ever have like this as human beings and as a society. I hope we will find solutions for this kind of stuff in the future.
“Usually I do not pay too much attention to what everyone is saying around us. Now I have had a lot of time to read and heard a lot and saw a lot, that is true. My feeling that came up in that moment, more than ever, is that I had to Google the word ‘asterisk’. I only knew the word from [Asterix] comics.”
Klopp went on to admit that he was 'worried' his side could be left without the chance to wrap up their first title due to the pandemic, adding: “Honestly, yes [I was worried]...I became worried the moment people started talking about null and voiding the season because I was like, 'wow'. I felt it physically.
"That would have been really, really, really hard. In France they did points per game. If England had done it differently it would be really interesting because we played 76 per cent of the season already.
“We don’t expect to get it as a present so we didn’t want to have it on points per game, so we were really happy when it was decided we could play again. But there were moments along the discussions when some people brought it up from time to time for different reasons and when that was off the table I felt quite relieved. It would have been a massive, massive blow for us.”
Source : 90min