Jurgen Klopp admits that his Liverpool stars paid more attention to visiting champion NBA coach Steve Kerr than they do to him.
The Golden State Warriors coach, nine-times an NBA champion as player and coach, is a Liverpool fan and took the opportunity to visit their training ground last week.
And he proved such an instant hit that Klopp jokingly admitted he was inspired to capture the moment on his phone.
'I made a picture, actually, when he spoke to the players and I told the boys if they looked that concentrated just one time when I spoke to you that'd be really cool,' joked Klopp.
'He's a great guy, he was here with his wife, a wonderful lady.
'One of the greatest of the game, huh? Absolutely outstanding, but it shows you can be seen as a great in public but smart people stay very grounded and it was a real pleasure to meet them.'
Mo Salah tweeted a photo straight after the visit, showing him, plus teammates Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk hanging onto Kerr's every word.
Kerr, for his part, claimed he was starstruck to finally meet Klopp, whom he has often talked about in his own press conferences with Golden State.
And with Kerr coming fresh from his fourth NBA crown in charge of the mighty Warriors, he found a kindred spirit in the Liverpool manager.
'We just had a good time,' said Klopp. 'I told him what we are doing here and obviously the training grounds in football and basketball look a bit different but he liked everything he saw here.
'It's a great place and we spoke about how we deal with different things and all that stuff.
'The one moment when I was really happy that I didn't become a basketball coach was when he said he has to do press every day. Wow! That'd be a killer.
'But he has a four-month break which is cool. He promised me he would speak about that in public but he hasn't yet!'
