FA CupJürgen Klopp press conference: 'We know what a fixture v Man Utd means to our fans'

The fierce rivals meet again at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon in the quarter-finals of the Emirates FA Cup.

Klopp previewed the eagerly anticipated clash during a press conference on Friday – read on for a summary of what he had to say…

On whether his substitutions in the win over Sparta Prague sum up the importance of this FA Cup tie...

We were 4-0 up and 5-1 [from the first leg], so that's the moment when you think, 'OK, we take off now x, y and z.' I don't think we would have played Robbo [Andy Robertson] as a centre-half if it's 0-0 or we are 2-0 down – but he did exceptionally well, by the way, so he's the next one who opened the door for a new position. That's the only reason for it. How I said, that's really strange, you cannot believe that you are 4-1 up at half-time and on aggregate obviously 9-2, so even the biggest pessimist would not think that we will not go through to the next round. That was because of that, no other reason. Usually you really have no time and no resources to think about the next game but that's why we did the changes we made.

On if he enjoys coming up against United...

I am looking forward to it, though I'm not sure that's exactly what you call enjoyment. But I'm looking forward to it. It's a good thing. We can take 9,000 people, I think? More tickets, 9,000 people at Old Trafford, Manchester United, that's definitely… ask me after the game if I enjoyed it. But before the game, it's just work and we try to be as good prepared as somehow possible. This situation that now we played again yesterday but we could handle it and United obviously had a full week to prepare. Erik ten Hag is a really good manager. He will prepare them, he knows exactly how we play, so there we will face some challenges we don't know in the moment, that's how it is. We don't have this time to prepare like this for an opponent and have to be ready anyway. Yes, as much as it's possible, I enjoy it.

On United...

I don't know too much about their season but I saw a few really, really good games. There's a lot of quality there. They had injury problems obviously as well but a lot of quality. I don't know which players are available – maybe Rasmus Hojlund is available again, I think [Aaron] Wan-Bissaka and some others were not available recently, that obviously makes a difference as well. We will see that on Sunday. But again, it was always a tough place to go for us, it's not easy. It means everything to both fan groups, it means absolutely everything – we know that – [and] we try to show that on the pitch as well with the work-rate, but you never know. There are no guarantees, just opportunities. That's how we see it and we are really willing to give it a try.

On United being the last team to stop Liverpool from scoring and whether their approach might be different at home…

I don't know in the moment if we can play the same again [as the league clash in December]. It was a really good game, I would call this game the start for when we really reached the next level in the season. Until then it was always a little bit, yes, we were quite OK, didn't lose a lot of games – we lost only once before – but it was still sometimes really good, sometimes not so good. It was difficult to judge us because we had so many things to overcome, like red cards, being 1-0 down or whatever. It was not always clear, how good actually are we?

And that game was the first time I saw, oof, that was really us in the next gear. Yes, the result didn't show that, but I have no clue if that will be the same game or not. I don't expect it obviously, it's a home game for them. A lot of aspects in our game that day were really, really good and these aspects we try to bring on the pitch again. But, how I said, the opponent had a full week to prepare; they might do a few things differently and then we have to adapt to that.

On his pleasure at having Mohamed Salah available again and the forward's scoring record against United…

Super-good, you saw it last night. How many goals did he set up in the first half? He scored and was then involved in all the others, pretty much. Exceptional. It was then a strange game in the second half. I would have loved to take him off but it was not possible because of Bobby [Clark]'s situation. And of course, he could manage that pretty well. But even then he set up another goal which was offside. Mo is pure quality. Ask him what he likes most about [playing against] Manchester United but the more we talk about it, the less likely it is it will happen again! That's why I don't like these subjects too much. He's just an exceptional guy, world-class player. How we dealt without him is unbelievable, the boys did really well. But it's better to have him around and on the pitch than just in the dressing room. Good. We could build it now with minutes and he is ready for Sunday.