Liverpool’s assistant manager Zeljko Buvac has quit as Jurgen Klopp’s number two just two days before the return leg of their Champions League semi-final against AS Roma.
The former Mainz 05 star has been on Klopp’s coaching staff for the past 17 years after they both played together at Mainz.
He has been described as the brain behind Klopp’s Gengepressing style, but their relationship was said to have hit the rocks recently.
Buvac has previously described their working relationship this way:
“As players, there was a direct connection straight away,
“Both of us were looking to become managers and we promised each other, “If I am the first manager, I will take you and if you are the first manager you will take me. He came first. It is a friendship.”
The players are said to be stunned at this development, however, Liverpool Echo claims he has not quit the Reds yet, but would be “absent for the rest of the season due to personal reasons.”
The duo were said to have stopped talking to each other for a while now and he was even ignored for their recent team meetings.
a source claimed:
“The relationship had broken down, and the players have been told Buvac is gone.”
