Games against Leicester, Bayern Munich in Singapore to set the tone for Liverpool's season: Jurgen Klopp

SINGAPORE: There are about two weeks to go before Liverpool Football Club officially open their 2023-24 English Premier League (EPL) campaign at Chelsea on Aug 13. 

Pre-season training is critical, not only in terms of building fitness after the summer break, but it also helps to set the tone for when the season starts.

The Reds found it tough going last term, failing to qualify for the Champions League for the first time since the 2015-16 season and leaving star forward Mohamed Salah "totally devastated".

Liverpool's players are desperate to make amends and their upcoming friendlies against Championship side Leicester City on Sunday (Jul 30) and German Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich three days later at the National Stadium will be a good gauge of how well the team can perform this season.

Speaking at the pre-match press conference on Saturday, defender Virgil van Dijk said: “We all are human beings and over the last few years, we all had a lot of success together.

"If you had the season that we had last year, a lot of things didn't go as we all wanted and we want to put it right. So far, pre-season has been very good – very hard, but very good and hopefully, it can benefit us for the rest of the season."

After a 13-year absence, Liverpool visited Singapore in July last year to take on fellow EPL outfit Crystal Palace in a friendly. Just like in 2022, the team received a rousing reception in Singapore when they arrived on Friday and van Dijk sought to pay tribute to the fans.

"We love to come here. We love the fans. We appreciate all of you supporting us all over the world but obviously to be here and feel the love ... everyone wants to feel loved and see all the fans at the (Ritz Carlton) hotel, at the training and tonight it's going to be great again like last year was," the Dutch international said. 

"It's always an amazing feeling to be on this side of the world and see so many happy faces and make fans happy as well. We are very privileged and blessed to do that.” 

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, who was mobbed by the fans at the Ritz Carlton after getting off the team bus on Friday, was equally effusive in his praise of the support in Singapore.

“We often really know about the size of the club when you come to this part of the world. We always feel the love of the people and we get a big reception, and that's why we really love coming here," the German said.

"The big difference between this year and last year is we’ve already had our training in Germany (this year) which is super important to us. And we’ll have two close games here and a training session tonight, which will be an important session for us.”

His team held an open training session at the National Stadium on Saturday, which was attended by 15,000 spectators, and Klopp joked beforehand that he hoped he would not have to use a microphone to talk to the players due to non-stop screaming. 

The fans were in good spirits, cheering their heroes on and performing several rounds of the Kallang wave throughout the 90-minute training session.

Afterwards, the players took a lap around the National Stadium, where they signed autographs and took wefies with the supporters.

Leicester manager Enzo Maresca, who took over the Foxes' hotseat in the summer after they were relegated from the EPL in May, is under no illusions about Sunday's game, calling the opposition "the best team in the world in terms of transition" and "the best team probably in terms of pressing".

The football events are part of the inaugural Singapore Festival of Football Driven by CDG Zig, running from Jul 26 to Aug 2.

In Wednesday’s opening match, Tottenham Hotspur beat Singapore Premier League outfit Lion City Sailors 5-1.

Mediacorp brings you pre-season football action from 15 July to 6 August as some of the biggest clubs take to the field in friendlies across Asia, Australia, Europe and the USA. Catch all these pre-season matches for free, live or on-demand on mewatch! Highlights will also be available on mewatch and Mediacorp’s Entertainment YouTube Channel.