'She meant everything to me,' Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp unable to attend his mother's funeral

Liverpool FC boss Jurgen Klopp's mother died on Wednesday but he won't be able to attend her funeral due to coronavirus pandemic-related travel restrictions in Germany. Klopp paid an emotional tribute to his mother, Elisabeth, who breathed her last at the age of 81.

"She meant everything to me. She was a proper mum in the best sense of the word. As a believer in Christ, I know that she is now in a better place. Owing to these terrible times, I can't be at the funeral, [but] as soon as circumstances allow, we'll hold a wonderful, fitting memorial for her," Klopp told German newspaper Schwarzwaelder Bote.

Keeping in mind the new variants of COVID-19, Germany has placed conditions for travellers arriving in the country from the UK. With Liverpool's tight schedule in the coming weeks, there was no way for Klopp to attend the funeral. Even Liverpool's upcoming Champions League fixture against RB Leipzig, which was scheduled initially to be played in Germany, now has been shifted to Budapest, Hungary.

Elisabeth married Klopp's father Norbert in 1960 and the couple had three children: Stefanie, Isolde, and Jurgen. Klopp's father passed away in 2000 when he was 66 years old and the Liverpool manager once had revealed that he regrets his father not witnessing his success as a top coach in European football.

"I would today be able to have a brilliant relationship with him because I'm now old enough and strong enough to say what I want to say. So now we could have completely cool conversations about all the things that happened, but unfortunately, we cannot do that. But I'm a Christian, I believe in God living in heaven and that he's there, annoying other people, telling them they have to watch this game with him. I'm 100 per cent sure about that. If he had seen how my life turned out after I started as a manager, I think he would have been pretty happy," Klopp was quoted, as saying in an interview.

In the documentary 'End of the Storm', which shows the inside story of Liverpool's 2019-2020 Premier League winning season through the eyes of the club's manager Klopp and their first team players, Klopp had spoken in length about his parents.

"My mum was just a typical Black Forest mum, caring, loving, full of trust and faith. Whatever happened out there, you would come home and she loved you anyway," he said in the film, which came out at the end of 2020.

Klopp's Liverpool are fighting to stay in the title race, but have fallen 10 points behind leaders Manchester City. The Reds next face Leicester City in a crucial league fixture on Saturday.