Bold claim! Klopp's former no.2 insists he did the Liverpool manager's job

Jurgen Klopp’s former assistant Zeljko Buvac, aka ‘The Brain’, has claimed he did the Liverpool manager’s job in their time together.

Zeljko Buvac spent 17 years working alongside Klopp at Mainz, Borussia Dortmund, and lastly, Liverpool. They enjoyed their fair bit of success together, including back-to-back Bundesliga titles and three Champions League runner-up finishes.

Their relationship ended in April 2018, however, when Buvac left Liverpool. The club stated at the time that it was for ‘personal reasons’, but rumors suggested the Bosnian-Serb wasn’t happy with current assistant Pepijn Lijnders’ growing influence. Therefore, he felt a departure from Anfield was necessary.

Since his exit, Liverpool have won the Champions League and Premier League titles. Many now regard them as one of the world’s greatest teams and perhaps the best in English football right now.

But Buvac, who now works as a sporting director for Russian side Dynamo Moscow, revealed he didn’t congratulate Klopp during an interview on a now-deleted YouTube video with journalist Nobel Arustamyan.

“I didn’t,” said Buvac on whether he congratulated Klopp as quoted by the Daily Mail. “I was happy for Liverpool, for the fans, for the players. But I didn’t.”

🗣| Jurgen Klopp’s former assistant Zeljko Buvac:

“I’ve been the manager for all those 17 years (with Klopp at Mainz, Dortmund and LFC). I did the job of a manager, except speaking in public and giving interviews.” [via The Athletic]

😂 pic.twitter.com/FYCIaV0thG

— City Chief (@City_Chief) October 5, 2020

He added: “I did the job of a manager, except speaking in public and giving interviews.

“Apart from that, I had all the functions and tried to influence my team as much as I could to help them succeed. But I didn’t need that kind of attention.

“I don’t want to be a manager now. If Barcelona calls me then of course I’ll think about it, but otherwise no.

“You say I’m here just to stay occupied and wait for a better chance. But if you knew what kind of offers I had rejected during the pause in my career you wouldn’t have said that. But I won’t tell you which clubs.”

Buvac’s claims shortly after a Liverpool fan demanded Klopp leave the club following a horrific 7-2 defeat to Aston Villa.