Leipzig host Liverpool under Klopp’s looming shadow

Sports Desk News :: RB Leipzig host Liverpool in the Champions League on Wednesday as Jurgen Klopp’s recent past and not-too-distant future collide. The 57-year-old will not be there at the Red Bull Arena on Wednesday but his shadow still looms over the contest.

Klopp stepped down as Liverpool manager in the summer citing exhaustion after a successful nine-year spell which included lifting the Champions League and Premier League.

In October, Klopp announced his return to football, not as a coach but running Red Bull’s football operations, which oversees clubs in several cities including Leipzig, Salzburg and New York.

He will be absent from the game, choosing to wait to attend a match after starting the role in January.

While the appointment was a surprise in Germany and in England, the focus on Leipzig has been particularly acute.

In a strange quirk of the fixture list, Leipzig’s five fixtures after the announcement includes games against each of Klopp’s former clubs: Mainz, Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund.