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Everton boss Ronald Koeman: I promise I will do this if we beat Liverpool
NORMALLY Jurgen Klopp is the excitable, animated manager on Merseyside. Ronald Koeman is the cool, calculating type.
Everton vs Liverpool - Premier League match preview
But not tomorrow. The Dutchman tends to leave the touchline histrionics to Jurgen Klopp, Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho but he has promised to sprint to the corner flag in joy if Everton win his first Merseyside derby.
After all, he did the last time he beat Klopp. His Southampton side came from behind to defeat Liverpool in March with Sadio Mane, now one of Klopp's summer signings, then scoring a dramatic decider for Koeman's team on his 53rd birthday.
And the Everton boss said: "I remember we beat Liverpool at home. We were 2-0 down at half-time and we beat them 3-2. And he was celebrating his goals like (laughs) a really happy manager. Jumping and jumping.
"And after we scored our third goal, I was running to the corner and that was the first time after my Achilles surgery and I was still a little bit afraid!"
Ronald Koeman has vowed to celebrate against Liverpool if Everton win the Merseyside derby
Thankfully, Ronald Koeman did not need another operation. He was not back on crutches. And now he has vowed to repeat that celebration if Everton beat Liverpool for the first time in six years.
"If we score the winning goal, then I will run again," he pledged.
"I am more normally quiet. Conte, Klopp, Mourinho, everyone has his own character. Everybody can celebrate how they like to.
"Football is emotions. If they look back at their celebrations, the arms to the fans, it is emotions and you have to respect the different characters of managers. We are different from each other. I don't have any problem provided there is respect."
Koeman celebrating widely during Southampton's 3-2 win over Liverpool last season
Koeman is adamant that he cares just as much as the melodramatic Klopp. But he shows that to his squad, not the wider world.
"I am myself, I do what I think I need to do and don't do anything different," he added.
"My character is my character. Maybe he looks more passionate but if you are so passionate then sometimes you lose a lot of things in your function as a manager.
"Always you need to show passion for football to your players. But it is a derby. There are always emotions on both sides and you have to control that."
Koeman feels that being an outsider may help him keep cool, adding: "Maybe it's good. It is always a bit more special, this game, especially the emotions if you are born in the city. I can understand the feeling myself because I lived in different derbies in Holland."
Koeman will talk to Everton legend Duncan Ferguson ahead of the Merseyside derby against Liverpool
While Koeman will be making his derby debut, he has a veteran of the local rivalry alongside him on the bench.
Duncan Ferguson, once a fearsome Everton forward and now part of Koeman's coaching staff, scored four goals for the Blues against the Reds.
And Koeman plans to tap into his knowledge of what a unique game means. "I will ask him," he said. "He is an idol for Everton and he can tell everybody that feeling and whether he controlled his emotions, or not!"
Everton have only won one derby in 19 and are 11 points behind Liverpool, but Koeman insists Klopp's men are not favourites.
He added: "These derbies don't depend on past results or positions in the table. Anything can happen. I don't feel an underdog. We are still unbeaten at home."
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