Merseyside derby: Jan Kluitenberg on fierce battles with Liverpool and a late Mane winner

Few fixtures divide loyalties quite like a Merseyside derby. At least twice a season, families become split and friendships are placed on hold whenever Liverpool and Everton do battle.

Conditioning coach Jan Kluitenberg learnt at first-hand the perils of having companions behind enemy lines in this biannual duel for points and bragging rights.

During a 16-month spell with Everton, Al Jazira’s current head of conditioning was afforded a touchline view of Sadio Mane pouncing in the 94th minute to win a cagey derby encounter for Jurgen Klopp’s side in December 2016.

The Senegalese forward was already familiar to Kluitenberg from their time together at Southampton.

That intimate knowledge, just months before finding themselves on opposing sides of Stanley Park, made Mane’s late sucker-punch, an already bitter pill for his former fitness coach, even more difficult to stomach.

“Of course I remember the goal, very late in the game,” Kluitenberg said.

“We didn't play that bad, I think. But before the game, Mane already was always a little bit smiling and a funny boy. He said, 'It would be nice if I score one goal against you'.

“Typically, sometimes things happen in football like this. He scored and we were very disappointed. I was also very disappointed, of course, for the fans. It was really difficult to shake his hand, but we did.

“You need to take your loss but it felt maybe a little bit more edgy because we had a great time with him, and the fans expect a lot more from us against Liverpool.”

Everton fitness coach Jan Kluitenberg during a Premier League match against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane in 2017. Getty

Kluitenberg, 59, may be observing Sunday’s 240th showdown at Anfield from a distance but he does so with