Jurgen Klopp Hails 'Boring Milner' After Midfield Veteran Breaks Neymar's Champions League Record
Liverpool star James Milner has received high praise from his manager in the wake of achieving a Champions League record.
The former England midfielder has surprised many with his high performances levels all season. While many expected the 32 to play a lesser role this season, after featuring mostly at left back in 2016/17, the former Man City star has racked up 43 appearances for the Reds so far and been a key part of their run in Europe.
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Amazingly, Milner is now the first player to record nine assists in a solitary Champions League campaign, surpassing Wayne Rooney and Neymar by laying on one of Roberto Firmino's goals in the 5-2 demolition of Roma on Tuesday.
Klopp has since hailed the player's influence in the team, also attributing his longevity to the fact that he decided to retire from international football.
"He could always play for England, that was clear, but he decided not to do it any more," the said, via the Echo. "We don't know if he would still have played like this had he not stopped with England because he used the international breaks for recovery. His was a completely different situation to the international players.
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"He had three weeks without football in the whole season – in August, October/November and then the third. That makes a massive difference.
Asked about Milner's assist record in Europe, the German made reference to the midfielder's Twitter sobriquet, claiming that he has responded to it in a great way.
"That is so cool," he declared. "What can I say? We have at least one more game so hopefully he will get the chance to improve that statistic but it's really nice for him.
"I've heard that people have this hashtag for him – Boring Milner – and he responds to it. It's nice for him to have this record.
"You have all these world class players and the man who shows up with the most assists is James Milner. That is really cool. I'm happy for him."
