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Jurgen Klopp has revealed he has received a message of congratulations from Liverpool 's bitter rival Alex Ferguson after his impressive start to life at Anfield

And the German responded by declaring the former Manchester United boss as “a role model for every manager”.

Klopp was handed the LG Performance of the Week award following Liverpool's 6-1 win at Southampton in their Capital One Cup quarter-final on Wednesday night.

Ferguson is on the League Managers Association panel that decides the winner, with Klopp having claimed the prize the previous week for the 4-1 win at Manchester City.

And Klopp said: “He said congratulations and the rest is private. But I've had the huge honour of meeting him a few times and of course he is a role model for every manager in football.

“It was a big pleasure because he's a funny person and something like a book of history in football so it was good to spend some time with him.”

Klopp then compared Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard – currently training at Melwood with his season at MLS side LA Galaxy having ended – to Ferguson.

“He has the same thing as Alex, only a younger version,” said Klopp. “It's good to have him here.

“It's very important to us because we can show that if you behave like Steven Gerrard in the years he was here and work like he did, then the door has to be open always and that's what we're doing now.

“Everybody knows him better than myself so it's good to have him around because he's a nice person and all the players love him.”