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Jurgen Klopp has made no attempt to play down the hype.

The German boss has felt the sense of anticipation grow both at Melwood and around the city with each passing day. It’s Liverpool v Manchester United under the lights at the new-look Anfield.

For Klopp, 8pm on Monday night can’t come soon enough. He knows this is the perfect stage for his in-form side to showcase their progress. The magnitude of the occasion is undeniable.

“At the petrol station or when you are shopping, everybody is talking about this game,” Klopp said.

“You may have recognised that I love football and I watch a lot of football. The Clasico in Spain or Dortmund v Bayern or Dortmund v Schalke in Germany, I can’t watch them as normal games so I have to pick a team. I have Madrid days and Barcelona days actually.

“Normally when we expect a special atmosphere we have to do something for it. Usually we have to start and then the atmosphere follows. But in these games they are already in a good mood and we have to keep it at that high level.

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“I didn’t watch these games (Liverpool v United) too often in the past but my sons were here for one of them. In Liverpool by the way.

“The preparation for this game is not different. You still need to be 100% motivated. It’s not to tell the players ‘run for your life’, it’s to tell them to do the right things in the right moments.”

On the back of five straight wins, confidence is high as Liverpool look to end a sequence of four successive league defeats at the hands of their fierce rivals.

However, Klopp says his sense of excitement shouldn’t be misconstrued as him being laidback ahead of the visit of Jose Mourinho’s men.

“Do I look relaxed? That’s a misunderstanding,” he said.

“I am not relaxed because it’s too important. For me it’s 100% important so how could it be more important for them? This is a game with 100% intensity in preparation and in the game. I am not relaxed, absolutely not.

(Image: John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

“We have played United three times already and they were good with high pressure around the games. It feels different before this game but it’s positive.

“You play 600 games in a decent career and out of that number you have maybe 30 or 40 or 50 really big games. Nobody can explain how big they are or why they are different but they really are so you need to accept it and feel the special vibrations around the game.”

Klopp v Mourinho isn’t just a battle between two of the Premier League’s biggest personalities but it’s also a clash of styles - underlined by the fact the clubs sit at opposite ends of the table when it comes to distance covered.

It’s Liverpool’s high-intensity counterpressing against United’s more pragmatic approach. However, Klopp doesn’t expect Mourinho to ‘park the bus’ at Anfield.

“Am I prepared for that? I am prepared for the game and we know how Man United are playing this season,” he said.

“They are playing different games and different line ups and we have no idea which line up exactly they will choose.

“But their style of play is pretty clear and that’s what we think about. That they don’t come out of their own half? I can’t imagine that actually.

“They are Man United and they have big quality and offensive players who are strong, quick and technically good. They have everything you need to play good football. I am sure they won’t come here to defend only.”

Despite an eye-watering £165million summer spending spree, Mourinho has enjoyed a mixed start to life at Old Trafford. United arrive at Anfield having won just one of their last four league matches. With his second spell at Chelsea ending in an alarming slump last season, there’s a school of thought that Mourinho is a fading force. The likes of Klopp. Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino are held up as the rising stars of the Premier League but the Reds boss doesn’t subscribe to that theory.

“Who said this? You have spoken to four people in Liverpool? It’s bull****,” he said.

“He has started badly at United? They won their first games. So now you are giving A or B grades for winning?

“How can I say who is on the way here and who is on the way there? If I lose against Manchester United you will stand here and ask me: ‘Ah, so what about your ways?’ I am absolutely not part of the group that says Jose Mourinho was or has been a good manager.

“I know the stories around this game. One really big name and one not so very small name and that’s how it is but it’s not too important. It starts at one point and ends at one point and what matters is what you do along the way so who knows where it will end in our careers?

“But now we face each other with two really good teams. We are two lucky guys that we can work with players like we have in our teams. That’s a fantastic opportunity for both of us to lead them in this game and give them the right information.

“The only challenge I have is to say the right things and do the right things in training and then let them be free to play. At the end of the game it’s not the end of the season but this is a nice opportunity to stay on this really good way that we started a few months ago.”

The action on the touchline promises to be as lively on what happens on the field. Both bosses are fierce competitors. But where they differ is that Klopp’s burning desire to win is coupled with a commitment to entertain doing it.

“Of course I want to enjoy our games otherwise I have to wait for the result thinking there’s nothing to enjoy for 90 minutes,” he added.

Watch: Klopp on how big a game Liverpool against Man United is

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“But there is not only one way. There are lots of ways and some of the most successful managers in world football had completely different ways.

“I can’t see there is one way of Guardiola, Pochettino, Klopp. If you think we have the same way then I know nothing about these two guys that I can say is similar from my point of view. We have our way without looking left or right, only trying to do our best.

“I try to play similar football to now with my former team and when we faced (Mourinho’s) Real Madrid it was unbelievably difficult to play them. He knows how successful football works.

“To like or not like the way he plays, why should he care? He has won the Champions League more times than I have played in it.

“He is a competitor. Without knowing him well, I know he will want to win this game. Maybe the way to win it is not top of the list. It’s not about showing who plays the better football.

“We want to win this game. We don’t just play to enjoy ourselves and say: ‘look it’s nice’. We play to win.”