Jurgen Klopp explains decision to appoint new goalkeeping coach

Liverpool head coach Jurgen Klopp has explained the decision to appoint Brazilian goalkeeping coach Claudio Taffarel to his staff.

The legendary former goalkeeper joined the Reds on Tuesday and will work alongside current coaches John Achterberg and Jack Robinson while continuing in his role with the Brazil national team.

Taffarel helped his country triumph in the 1994 World Cup final, saving Daniele Massaro's spot-kick in their shootout win over Italy. He also won the Copa America in both 1989 and 1997 and since retiring in 2003 he has taken up several coaching roles, also enjoying two interim spells in charge of Galatasaray.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of facing Wolves in the Premier League, Klopp was asked about the decision to bring Taffarel on board.

"I had for a while already the idea when I saw all our extremely talented goalkeepers,” he said.

“In all age groups we really think we have an outstanding bunch of players there, starting of course with Ali but then Caoimhin [Kelleher], then Marcelo [Pitaluga], then Harvey [Davies], Vit [Jaros] was brilliant in Ireland, he’s doing well, and we have a lot of games so that means we are constantly on the road, in hotels, stuff like this. 

“So we wanted a real solution for these boys, not only for these boys but for these boys as well, and we want to create our own goalkeeping philosophy actually.

“For that we thought it makes sense to mix it up with a coach who was a world-class player, obviously, and works in the moment together with two of the best goalies in the world: Ederson and Alisson [in his role with the Brazil national team]."

It was revealed on Tuesday that Liverpool and Brazil number one Alisson had given his club manager a glowing reference of Taffarel.

Klopp continued: “So we spoke to Ali and he was quite pleased about that, then we spoke to Taffa and he loved the idea as well [and] here we go. It’s really good and exciting. He is a brilliant guy and he’s older than me, which is important because I was the oldest in the coaching staff!"