Football news - Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp backs Premier League return to training

All 20 Premier League clubs unanimously voted in favour of a return to small group training earlier this week.

Liverpool will hold staggered sessions on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after it was announced that six players or staff of Premier League clubs have tested positive for coronavirus.

There will be continued regular testing of players, and Klopp says he expects it to be a “safe environment”.

“Of course, there are different opinions and stuff like this and, again, nobody wants to bring anybody into danger, but I think with all the things we know about, sticking to the social distancing rule – especially in the first part – with testing as often as possible and stuff like this, the players will be safe," he told the club's official website.

“Germany showed it already – a couple of players had a positive test during the long period, they trained for five weeks and now they play already, stuff like this and they had altogether 10 or 12 positive tests. That shows we create like a society and a society in which we just really make sure nothing will happen there.”

The Bundesliga was the first major European league to return to action last weekend with all games played behind closed doors.

While the lack of fans created an eerie atmosphere, Klopp says everyone involved has to “accept” that this could be the situation for some time.

“Look, I love it. In this part I’m a strange person; when I watch football – other games, not our games – I watch them most of the time without sound because I don’t want to hear the commentary, I’m just interested in the game. So now for me it’s completely normal to watch other football games.

“I love the game, I’m interested in what they do and stuff like this. It’s 100 per cent, the perfect package of football is a full, packed Anfield stadium, two really good teams, big fight, super goals and at the end Liverpool win. That’s the perfect matchday. So, a lot of these things are possible but Anfield will not be packed for a while.

“So that’s what we have to accept, that’s the only thing. I know, football behind closed doors, of course it’s not the same. Why do we have to mention it? We all love it when we have contact, when we get cheered up by the people, when they push us through the yards and all that stuff. We love that but we cannot have it. Why would you think always about something you cannot have in the moment? Use the thing you have in the moment.

“And it looks like it will be possible – and it is in Germany already possible – to play behind closed doors. And the football games were really good; super goals, real fight, tight games, clear games, clear results, a proper fight. Imagine, the first night is a little bit like, ‘Have a look here and there, how will it work, how does it feel?’ But in Germany so many teams play for pretty much everything – they want to stay in the league – and that’s exactly the same what will happen in England.”