Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski says he appreciated playing for Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp at Borussia Dortmund.
The Polish legend spent four years playing under the Liverpool boss at Dortmund, before sealing a move to Bayern Munich, but opened up on a midnight chat with Klopp which helped him find his form.
He recalled to ESPN: “I think that one situation changed my career.
“It was the first season, maybe the beginning of my second season, at Dortmund. I wasn’t in good form, I didn’t score so many goals. I didn’t know what Jurgen wanted from me.
“After a game that we lost, I went to him directly. It was maybe midnight at the hotel. I said: ‘I want to speak with you because I don’t understand and I don’t know what you want from me, what you expect from me.’
“And this conversation was like, I thought that maybe we’re going to speak five minutes, 10 minutes, but we were speaking about an hour and a half.
“The most important thing was that I was speaking with him, maybe like a father. And I missed my father because I lost my father when I was 16 years old. Maybe since that time, I couldn’t find someone who can talk with me like that.
“Three days later, and remember you cannot change anything in training because you don’t have time, we were playing in the Bundesliga and I scored a hat trick and got one assist and we won 4-0. That was Augsburg, I think.
“In that moment I understood that mentality and what you have in your head is so important because I didn’t change anything. But I felt some freedom, just like I’m clear in my mind. After this everything changed.”
