Claudio Ranieri has revealed Jürgen Klopp helped him recover from his Greek tragedy.
The Leicester boss visited Borussia Dortmund’s training camp earlier this year following his sacking from the Greece national team last November.
Klopp had taken his side to La Manga for a winter break and Ranieri went to watch the German work.
The top of the table Foxes go to Klopp’s Liverpool this afternoon and Ranieri admitted he wanted to learn from his new Barclays Premier League rival.
He said: “They were in La Manga in Spain, I went there. I had my Greece player there (Sokratis Papastathopoulos) I called him and asked if Klopp would agree.
“I watched Pep Guardiola, I watched Bayer Leverkusen last winter, I was in Germany three times.
“I have a lot of spirit for this, for this reason, it’s a great experience, I want to see and I want to learn.
“The football is always the same, but if you have an open mind you take. Dortmund were in a bad position but it was unbelievable as they played so well.
‘They created five or six chances but didn’t score.
“For me it’s not important what a manager is doing in a little period, it’s about the big period.”
Ranieri’s reputation took a battering after he lost four and drew one of his five games as Greece boss but the 64-year-old is not bothered by his past despite restoring his reputation at the King Power Stadium.
He added: “For me my reputation is not important, I know I’m an honest man, I am not ‘good after I was not good’. It’s the right balance. I love my job, I have so much passion.
“Look, in my career – what was important was just four matches (with Greece), what I did before those four matches with Greece was nothing!
“After that it was ‘Ranieri is no good… go home’. I was sacked. But then another coach arrived and he was worse and another arrived, he was worse.”
(source: RTE)
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