KLOPP: NORMALITY’S COMING BACK

JURGEN KLOPP hailed the return of fans as a ‘wonderful, wonderful’ sign that normality is returning amid the fight against Covid-19. Liverpool played in front of supporters for the first time since winning the Premier League, entertaining the 2,000 Anfield crowd with their biggest league win of the season against Wolves to draw level on 24 points with leaders Tottenham. The Liverpool boss said: ‘After 10 months without that it’s just a wonderful, wonderful sign. ‘It’s a little bit like the news that the smart people have invented a vaccine. ‘OK, we get it in a few months but we know, “Oh it’s ready” so we can start doing things. These are signs. ‘Having people in the stadium is another really good sign. Hopefully everything goes well and we can build on that as a society, not only a football society. ‘We’re hopeful for four, five, six thousand in the future. Normality’s coming back and we have to appreciate that even more. ‘Getting out of the dressing room for warming up was a proper goosebumps moment. Really emotional. During the game it was emotional, it was outstanding. So nice to hear You’ll Never Walk Alone again. If my players and the medical team tell me nobody is injured, it was a perfect night.’ There was also the return from injury of Trent Alexander-Arnold, who set up Liverpool’s fourth, and a Premier League debut clean sheet for impressive young goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher. Georginio Wijnaldum scored the second but refused to be drawn on his future with his contract expiring next summer. Asked whether he thinks his Dutch midfielder will stay, Klopp replied: ‘I hope so. You can see that he plays all the time. We have a very good relationship.’ Wolves had a first-half penalty award overturned following a pitchside monitor check by referee Craig Pawson and fell 2-0 down seconds after captain Conor Coady had a chance to make it 1-1. Manager Nuno Espirito Santo, however, admitted: ‘It was not a good performance.’ He did have an encouraging update on the health of striker Raul Jimenez following his fractured skull surgery. Nuno, whose players warmed up in T-shirts bearing a message of support for the Mexican, said: ‘We are very pleased to say he’s back home. He’s improving and getting back to normality. He is recovering but he’s been in contact with all his team-mates like before. The only thing is he’s not here with us. ‘That’s the only thing missing but he is going to return — for sure

he is going to come back.’