At the post-match press conference after the Newcastle game.
"We do have a lot of different tactics, but we don't use them recklessly. When we spot an opponent's mistake, we can make quick decisions because we have Lin in our squad."
"You know, with Lin here, I never worry about any match, because I know he's a player we can always trust."
"Didn't you see the fans gathered beside the tunnel after the match?"
"There were even quite a few Newcastle fans holding Leo Lin shirts, hoping to get his autograph."
"What can you do? He's always that outstanding."
"Just like me."
If not for that last line, Klopp's comments at this press conference would have been perfect.
Gullit had been listening with a grin the whole time, right up until Klopp said Leo Lin was outstanding just like him. Then Gullit angrily turned off the press conference broadcast.
"Klopp is unbeatable. If he can say something like that, then there's nothing he won't say."
"If we're talking about being outstanding, Lin has to be like me. After all, the fans call him the 1.5T upgraded version of me, not the upgraded version of Klopp."
Beside him, Ashley Cole looked at the smug Gullit and felt that maybe he had not been the one with a cold recently. Maybe it had been Gullit, and the fever had fried his brain.
In the fans' mouths, he had become the downgraded version of another player, yet Gullit was still so happy about it.
The player who attended the post-match press conference was Mané. It was also Mané's first time attending a press conference in a long while. He was still a little socially anxious, but his answers made Klopp, sitting beside him, grin from ear to ear.
"We just want to win the Premier League. We also want to win the FA Cup. We want to win a lot of trophies. We want to win every trophy."
"Yes, your guess is right. We're working this hard because we want to win the Premier League. Otherwise, why would we fight so hard for three points? Are we doing charity?"
"We attack hard because we want to score. Only by scoring can we win, and only by winning can we get more points."
It was blunt and completely unfiltered. Klopp loved Mané for it.
Klopp's good mood lasted all the way until eight in the evening.
...
After eight o'clock that night, La Liga News suddenly published a report, and the content of that report was related to Liverpool's star player, Leo Lin.
[Breaking News: Leo Lin's team plans to help him leave Liverpool. Leo Lin wants to go to La Liga, and La Liga clubs are extremely attractive to him!]
The report was printed in that evening's edition of La Liga News. Many Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Atlético Madrid fans bought the evening paper, all feeling that Leo Lin wanted to come to their club.
"Could it be Barcelona? Isn't Barcelona's midfield just about to bring in a new batch of young players? Perfect. Leo Lin and De Jong would be a perfect combination!"
"He's definitely coming to Real Madrid. He can rotate with Modrić and raise the competition in the first team!"
"I think he'll come to Atlético Madrid. Atlético need exactly this kind of midfielder, one who isn't afraid of contact and has an extremely strong mentality!"
The situation grew more and more intense, but Leo Lin himself had no idea any of it was happening. Barnett was even angrier. He had never released any message like that, and he had never even said anything about helping Leo Lin move to La Liga.
Besides, the contract Liverpool had offered Leo Lin came with a very high salary and no release clause at all.
Liverpool fans were immediately thrown off balance. Some Liverpool staff even called Leo Lin to ask whether it was true. Klopp understood exactly what La Liga News was trying to do.
With the second leg of the Champions League semifinal about to begin, La Liga News wanted to use this method to unsettle Liverpool, create a crack in their extremely united atmosphere, and, ideally, affect Leo Lin's match form.
Although a few Liverpool staff members had doubts, neither Liverpool's first-team players nor the coaching staff believed the news at all.
Soon, whenever players were asked about it in interviews, they burst out laughing.
"Rumors from La Liga? Of course La Liga is a great league too, but didn't Lin just sign a new contract with Liverpool?"
"La Liga News?"
"I take their evening paper straight into the bathroom and use it as toilet paper."
"No one told me Lin was leaving. My oven is still at his house. If Lin really is leaving, I hope the club trying to buy him calls me first, so I can go get my oven back before he takes it with him."
Firmino's answer was the funniest, and it was the one fans liked the most.
After hearing the players joke about it, Liverpool fans finally relaxed. They knew Leo Lin would never leave.
Leo Lin did not accept any interviews at first. He waited until his close friends had answered those questions for him, then he accepted an interview with Scholes.
Scholes wanted to laugh, because this kind of pre-match media campaign to stir up rumors and unsettle people was very common in football history. But La Liga News had chosen the wrong target. They probably still had not understood just how popular Leo Lin was at Liverpool now.
"Over the past two days, we've been hearing a lot about you possibly leaving Liverpool to play elsewhere. First, La Liga News broke the story, then some Italian media claimed you wanted to transfer to Juventus."
"After that, there were also reports that Paris Saint-Germain wanted to buy you. Has Liverpool received any real offers, or have you received contract offers from those clubs?"
Leo Lin looked at Scholes and smiled. Seeing Scholes smile made Leo Lin want to laugh too.
"Of course. A lot of clubs have contacted me. Some clubs are willing to give me a weekly salary of one million pounds, and some clubs said that as long as I'm willing to go, they'll give me a signing bonus of one hundred million."
"They even promised to give me a toy car. The kind you can buy in a bargain shop."
Scholes, along with every Liverpool fan watching the livestream, kept laughing and could not stop.
"Fans have been talking about this a lot over the past few days, and I've actually thought about it too."
"Is there really a club that can make me leave Liverpool?"
"The answer is no."
"My career began here. I played first-team football here. I played in the Premier League here, the FA Cup here, the Champions League here, and so many finals here."
"At my house, I have Firmino's oven, Salah's air fryer, Mané's foot bath, and Henderson's toaster."
"So does anyone really think I would leave Liverpool?"
"Are you kidding?"
"Even if one day Firmino leaves, Salah leaves, Mané leaves, Henderson leaves, Klopp leaves, and Krawietz leaves!"
"I will still be here."
"I understand."
"I understand those offers you're talking about. Those invitations."
"But for me, Leo Lin."
"The word Liverpool is priceless."