Jurgen Klopp is confident that Borussia Dortmund will be okay without him, when they take on Marseille in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
The animated manager is sitting out a one-match touchline ban, after he was sent off for confronting the referee aggressively following his team’s defeat to Napoli in their opening group stage game.
Klopp apologised immediately after the incident, and has manfully accepted his punishment, and he remains optimistic that his charges will perform well under the guidance of his assistant, Zeljko Buvac.
Dortmund are on fire in the Bundesliga, and Klopp believes that they have more than enough ability to make Buvac’s job easy against L’OM.
"We have been working together for 13 years and I do not know a better coach," Klopp told reporters of Buvac.
"He embodies the football brain and he loves the Bundesliga and the Champions League without all the other things that come with it.
"It may be punishment to sit in the stands but it will not complicate matters for the team.
"For one game it is absolutely no problem. The only one suffering will be me."
Meanwhile, Klopp says that the blow of losing to Napoli was not a killing one.
And that starting tonight against Marseille, last season’s defeated finalists can get their Champions League campaign back on a winning track.
"We still have lots of time to make up for lost points," said Klopp. "The winner will again have a foot in the door."
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