Liverpool (dpa) – Jürgen Klopp hasn’t been bothered by the enormous pressure for a long time: “We are Liverpool. We have to fight as if we haven’t won in the last twelve years.”
“That’s always the situation here,” said the German coach before the first leg in the semi-finals of the Champions League on Wednesday (9 p.m. / DAZN). The Reds are the clear favorites against FC Villarreal, who threw out FC Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals, but the English will certainly not underestimate the Spaniards.
Klopp: “We have to enjoy it”
“It’s something special to be part of the semifinals. It’s crazy, a massive game,” said former Dortmund and Mainz Bundesliga coach Klopp: “So many coaches and players work their whole lives for it and don’t have a chance to be that close it’s our turn. We have to enjoy it.” The home game at Anfield is intended to lay the foundation for reaching the final on May 28 in Paris. The second leg will take place in Spain on May 3rd.
For the first time in the club’s glorious history, Liverpool could win four important titles in just one season. They have already won the League Cup, they have reached the final in the FA Cup against Chelsea and coach Thomas Tuchel, and in the Premier League the LFC are just a point behind long-time rivals Manchester City before the season finale. “I want to relive the feeling we had after winning the Champions League,” said striker Mohamed Salah, referring to the 2019 premier class coup. After that, there was an “incredible” winner’s parade through the city.
Special respect to Coach Emery
Meanwhile, Klopp has special respect for Villarreal’s Unai Emery. The shrewd coach has won 84 per cent of his knockout duels in the Champions League and Europa League since the 2009/10 season. Klopp also had to experience that with Liverpool. The now 54-year-old reached for the first title with Liverpool in the Europa League final in 2016, but was stopped by Emery and Sevilla FC.
“It was hard to lose the game,” Klopp recalled, but also pointed out: “That was maybe game number 64 this season.” It was important for the club to recover quickly from this setback. But now the situation is very different. “You can’t really compare it when there are six years between them,” said Klopp. “I don’t know if it would have changed anything if we had won back then.”