Gerrard named former teammate who could succeed Klopp as Liverpool manager 'drops retirement hint'

Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard once named one of his former team-mates as a future candidate to be involved with the Reds in a managerial capacity.

But they are still in the Champions League, and face an upcoming rematch against Real in the last 16.

"So that's why I say when Roy Hodgson came back again, when he came in, I saw him and asked him, 'Do you have a wet flat? You go again?' And he says, 'No, I love it'.

"So I cannot see myself beyond 70 and still standing in the dugout each week, and especially each weather for training, one and a half, two hours, standing there in the wind."

Gerrard on future Liverpool manager

"It's still quite fun to fantasise a little," he said. "If, totally hypothetically, I was going to become Liverpool manager one day, I know who I'd love to have as my assistant: Xabi Alonso or Jamie Carragher.

"They are very intelligent, have a deep knowledge of football and are special men. The players would respect them, the fans would like them and I think we would work really well together.

"I've never mentioned it to either Xabi or Jamie, so I think they'll be surprised if they read about it. Xabi might go on to be a great manager himself - and so I feel a bit embarrassed admitting that a managerial fantasy would be him working alongside me."

He deploys a fluid 3-4-3 formation at the German side, and after a shaky start, has guided them to victory in each of their last five Bundesliga matches.

Carragher, meanwhile, has carved out a successful career as a pundit in his post-playing career. However, fellow Reds legend Phil Thompson had two separate spells as both a Liverpool coach and a football pundit, including when he was enticed back to the club by Gerard Houllier in 1998. You never know whether Carragher might go down a similar path at some point in the future.