Jurgen Klopp admits that he had a conflict with winger Jakub Blaszczykowski while at Borussia Dortmund but says that it ultimately inspired the Pole to become a hero for the club.
Blaszczykowski, 34, is currently playing with Wisla Krakow in his native Poland, the club he departed in order to join the Bundesliga outfit in 2007.
Initially the 108-time capped Poland international struggled under Klopp, who has moved on to become Liverpool manager, but the two became heroes of the club as they won successive Bundesliga titles and even reached the 2013 Champions League final, in which they lost out late on to Bayern Munich at Wembley.
Klopp revealed there was friction behind the scenes, with the crowd favourite fearful he would lose his place in the starting XI to an up-and-coming Mario Gotze.
“He gave an interview during a national team trip in which he complained because he hadn’t started twice before he went away with Poland,” Klopp recalled on a podcast he recorded for BVB that was to commemorate the ninth anniversary of the club’s title win in 2011.
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“I told him: ‘Kuba, I am good for you, there might be translation errors - tell us: what you’re doing?’ He didn't think that was so good.”
The Reds boss, however, successfully defused the situation in a later talk.
“If you think that you are no longer playing because an 18-year-old is here, then you are totally crazy!” he said. “You just have to train better, then you also play. That's how it happened.”
The 52-year-old took charge of Dortmund in July 2008 and spent seven seasons in charge, overseeing 318 games, of which he won on 180 occasions.
Blaszczykowski, meanwhile, turned out on 253 occasions for BVB, scoring 32 goals and contributing a further 52 assists during his time with the Signal Iduna Park outfit.
The winger has played 15 times for Wisla this season in the Polish top flight and has contributed five goals and three assists. Moreover, he has agreed to help support the club during the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
