Rare Jurgen Klopp moves sums up how Liverpool boss feels about Real Madrid
Jurgen Klopp sighs, almost imperceptibly, but it is there on his breath as he considers the team many would say has been his nemesis in European football.
“It is Real Madrid, we cannot play this game without respect. The white shirts and the badge on the shirt…even when it looks over (for them), it isn’t. And that is their quality,” he says with a slight smile.
Klopp knows deep down his team should have beaten the Spanish giants in the Champions League final last May. But he also knows that PSG and Manchester City also know that, after their quarter final and semi final defeats on the route to Paris.
“It is possible to beat them. We tried it in the final, but In the rounds before they played City and PSG and both games looked like: game over! It wasn’t.” he adds ruefully. “They don't lose confidence in one second.”
It is not unusual for Klopp to speak respectfully of an opponent, but it is rare to hear him build an opponent up so much, and not his own side. Perhaps it is because he has won only three of 10 matches against the Madrid team, his worst record against any European team bar Sevilla, surprisingly.
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Perhaps that is the manager’s psychology for the round of 16 game against a team which has now beaten Liverpool twice in the final during his reign, and also knocked them out in the quarter final two years ago.
Jurgen Klopp has heavily praised Real Madrid (Liverpool FC via Getty Images)Can Liverpool beat Real Madrid in the Champions League? Have your say in the comments below
Watching the two teams’ last meeting, in that final in Paris in May, he saw his Reds create enough chances to have won comfortably - a record 24 of them in fact - but then get hit on the counter to lose to a Vinicious Jr goal which was one of only two Madrid shots on target.
So how to overcome a side who have the arrogance of a belief they own the competition - or as Klopp says: “some of their players won the competition five times, so they are probably right, they own the competition!”?
This is part of the manager’s psychology for his own team. He stresses they have shown respect, have shown fear for the counter-attacking danger Real displayed in their three Champions League victories over Liverpool in the past five years.
Now is the time to show courage, to display a sense of fearlessness. “Generally I don’t think you can make this (Real)team panic, so we can learn from that.
“The chances we had and the saves Courtois had to make (in Paris), somebody could think ‘oh my god we have to close this gap’. But what held us a little back was the fact that it was a final, we did not take enough risks in little moments.
“We were not adventurous enough, we were super protected because of the counter attack threat - rightly so as we saw with the goal - but here and there and with an extra spark we could have made this thing [happen].
“It is a really well set up team and that is why it is so difficult but it doesn’t mean it is not possible. In the last few years one of us is always in the final, and if you want to get to the final you have to kick us out or them out. That’s it.”
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