Jurgen Klopp did not sound devastated about Cristiano Ronaldo’s return to Manchester United when the subject cropped up a month back.
‘When I heard the rumours,’ he said. ‘I thought, “Oh, that will be fun for United”. All fine. Free world. They can do what they want.’ Managers, least of all Klopp, are rarely so jocular when they sense a real threat.
Ronaldo has inflicted damage on Liverpool for Real Madrid during those 12 years away but the Premier League he returns to is a more relentless and unyielding place.