Jurgen
Klopp has insisted Liverpool are ready to end Lionel Messi’s Champions League
mission by beating Barcelona in the semi-finals.
Messi
has been rested for Barca’s last two league games and appears more motivated
than ever in Europe, after pledging to “bring that beautiful cup back to Camp
Nou” at the start of the season.
But
Klopp has warned his players not to focus only on the Argentinian.
“It’s
not only about Messi but of course it’s about him as well,” Klopp said at a
press conference on Tuesday.
“Can
we concentrate on Messi? We should in a lot of moments but if we only concentrate
on him there are 10 other world-class players who can decide the game as well.
“Messi
said before the season, ‘we want to bring back that cup’. That sounds like a
threat to me. Now we did it, now we are here and all I can say is we want to go
to the final as well.”
Barcelona
play Liverpool four days after celebrating winning La Liga on Saturday, and
with a Copa del Rey final to come next month against Valencia. It means a
treble is in their sights.
“Leo
has been a La Liga champion 10 times in 15 years and of course, after seeing
him lift the cup (on Saturday) with such happiness, that motivates everyone,”
said Ivan Rakitic.
“If
Leo is happy to win every title, it makes us even more eager too. We know we’re
Barca, we have to give everything and following the best player in history
gives us more confidence to do that.”
Messi
demands more after imperfect Barca blow away United
Liverpool
hope to have their own striker back in time for the first leg, after Roberto
Firmino trained after recovering from a muscle strain.
“If
he is 100 per cent ready to play he will maybe play,” Klopp said. “He is here.
Tomorrow we have another session.”
Messi
is likely to be flanked by two former Liverpool players, with Luis Suarez and
Philippe Coutinho expected to start in an attacking three.
But
while Suarez has flourished in Spain, Coutinho has struggled to find his feet
since joining Barca for 120 million euros in January last year.
“We
miss Phil Coutinho a lot because he is a world-class player and I loved working
with him,” Klopp said. “When I first heard he wanted to go to Barcelona I
couldn’t imagine it would be good. But we had to deal without him and we did
well.”
Barcelona
have not lost at home in the Champions League since 2013 while the last English
opponent to beat them on their own turf was Liverpool in 2007.
–‘Mean
a lot to win’–
“A
draw would not be the worst result in the world, not that we would go for it
but it would be okay,” Klopp said.
“It
would mean a lot to win. It’s difficult, so many teams came here with an idea
to do this or that and they got a big knock.
“But
we saw the game against Real Sociedad and they did well. Levante did well a
couple of days ago. But the better the opposition is, the higher the stakes
are, and the more they are engaged.
“Now
they are champions, they can completely focus on the Champions League.”
Liverpool
have lost only once in the Premier League this term and are still fighting with
Manchester City to win the title.
Mohamed
Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino already boast 68 goals this season
between them.
“We
need to stop them running at our defence,” Rakitic said. “We are going there to
score but we mustn’t lose our heads.”
“We
know in these ties one good game is not enough, you need to play two great
games,” coach Ernesto Valverde said. “If you switch off for five minutes
against Liverpool, they can finish you off.”
No comments:
Post a Comment