Faf du Plessis, Siya Kolisi and Jurgen Klopp were all sitting at a restaurant, when … no, this isn’t the start of a joke, this really happened.
Du Plessis, the South Africa cricket captain, has revealed more about that interaction in November, when he was at a restaurant in Cape Town with Kolisi, the Springboks rugby captain, and Klopp came over to greet them.
Klopp, the Champions League-winning Liverpool manager, was in South Africa on a mini-vacation during the international break, and recognised Kolisi, who had lifted the Rugby World Cup trophy in Japan a few days before. He came over to congratulate Kolisi, who had, according to du Plessis, a “man crush moment”.
Du Plessis’ picture from that meeting generated a lot of cross-sport talk. Asked by a journalist whether Klopp recognised him, du Plessis’ answer was short: “No.” But he elaborated: “He [Klopp] said he watches cricket. The Liverpool guys watched the Cricket World Cup and he knew about how well England did, so that’s great.”
Du Plessis doesn’t usually follow football, he said, but one meeting with Klopp is all it took for him to become a fan. “For someone to be that famous, he is a great guy, and that’s what I believe real leadership is about,” du Plessis said.
“It’s about connecting with people, having great relationships with people, so I became a massive fan. I am not a huge football fan, I don’t support a lot but I do support him now.”
