Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has joked that the real winners from Liverpool's Super Cup win were their next Premier League opponents Southampton .
Jurgen Klopp knows that the worst preparation he could have had for any League games was having to play a tough fixture abroad less than 70 hours ahead of that game.
Liverpool's win over Chelsea in the so called Super Cup in Istanbul saw them play a tough 90 minutes followed by extra time and a penalty shoot out.
The trip to Turkey was about as far as you can go in Europe for a game and would mean that Liverpool would have had to have a day off from training today (Thursday) given that they would probably have left Istanbul in the early hours of this morning for a 4 hour or so flight back to the UK, arriving back in Liverpool just as their supporters were getting up for work.
Then on Friday Liverpool will be flying South for their game at St Mary's and although they would likely train this morning it i not ideal preparation for a trip to Southampton one of their longest trips of the season in the Premier League.
Klopp admitted as much to his opposite number in the Chelsea dug out Frank Lampard:
"After 90 minutes, when it was close to the final whistle and Frank Lampard asked me 'where do you play and when do you play (next)?' and I said 'Saturday at Southampton'!
"Nobody wanted extra time tonight. We will have to be ready again and that's my present to the players, to be able to help them recover so they are ready for the game.
"Let's try to find a way to win on Saturday, then we have Arsenal coming up. Both will be incredibly difficult for different reasons."
Liverpool at the moment although Saints fans don't like to admit it are one of the best sides in Europe, that being the case we need all the help that we can get whether it be an injury to their goalkeeper or a tough game on the far side of Europe almost in Asia, Klopp certainly realises that when he said:
"Only one team celebrated more than us tonight and that's probably Southampton when they saw 90 minutes, no decision!"