We could have helped Maradona: Klopp

Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp believes the love shown to Diego Maradona after his death could have helped him to prevent some of the mistakes he made if that fondness was given when he was still alive.

Maradona died on Wednesday at the age of 60 after a long struggle with addiction to alcohol and drugs.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday ahead of his side’s trip to Brighton, the Reds boss also described his one meeting with Maradona as like “meeting the Pope”.

“His life shows how nice life can be when you are a world-class footballer and how difficult it can be as well,” said Klopp.

“He was a very impressive figure. I met him once which, for a player of my level, it was like meeting the Pope, to be honest, it was really special.

“Football will miss him, I will miss him, and you can see in the reactions all over the world if we had shown our love for him without wanting to have a selfie, just showing him the respect he deserves while he was still alive, I think we could have helped him.”

Meanwhile, Maradona was buried near the grave of his parents at a cemetery outside Buenos Aires on Thursday.

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