Jurgen Klopp reiterated the rallying call he made to his team before the famous second leg comeback against Barcelona in 2019 as Liverpool prepare to overturn another 3-0 deficit against Atalanta in the quarter-final of the Europa League.
Goals from Gianluca Scamacca (2) and Mario Pasalic at Anfield gave Liverpool a mountain to climb and, unlike previous European comebacks under Klopp, it will have to be done away from home.
“I remember saying (in 2019): ‘If we fail, then let’s fail in the most beautiful way’ and that’s how I see it again,” said Klopp, who initially joked that that he had already written a pre-match speech. .
“We want to win the game and if we want to win the game we better play well. If we play well, we will have a chance to win. After the game (last week), everyone in the stadium was like, ‘This is it.’ But since then, a week later, I don’t think everyone thinks it’s already decided.
“Let’s see what we can put on the field tomorrow. But my team meeting won’t take place in front of the whole world at the press conference. If we win, the players will find a reason to tell the world what I said, and if we lose, no one will want to hear it.
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Klopp’s side overturned a 3-0 first-leg deficit against Barcelona in the 2019 Champions League semi-final, winning 4-0 at Anfield, en route to lifting the trophy. However, the German admitted there were few similarities for his team to build on.
“The result is definitely,” Klopp said. “Performance, not really. We played Barcelona and they were exceptional but we lost 3-0, no one knew how. We lost at home and now we’re away, so it’s a huge difference.
“It’s not about comparing. We are here and we will try to win the match tomorrow, that’s all. We’ll see if it’s possible. A lot of the moments we had last week were really good moments and we were unlucky but they won, completely deserved. We didn’t play very well. Let’s start with a much better performance and try to win the match and see how much time is left at the end.
Goalkeeper Alisson is one of the few remaining players involved in Barcelona’s comeback and the keeper echoed Klopp’s thoughts.
The Brazil international returned to the starting XI against Crystal Palace after recovering from a long-term hamstring injury. He was unable to prevent Liverpool from conceding, which extended their clean streak to nine games.
Alisson believes that solving this problem is crucial to getting performance and results back on track.
“We have done great things in the past and great things in the history of football,” he said. “The teams overcame poor results and turned things around to advance to the next round. Of course we have to believe in ourselves. The way the opponent played at home shows their quality. We come here with the objective of improving our performances, trying to play better as a team and avoiding certain mistakes. Then we will see what the result will be.
“Two bad results. We cannot make the mistake more serious than it is. Losing 3-0 at home is something we cannot accept as Liverpool players. We need to come back to keep clean sheets and score the clear chances we have in front of goal. I trust my attacker and my defenders. If we do this as a team, we can start winning games again.
“That (clean sheets) must be our goal this season, next season and for seasons to come. It doesn’t just depend on the defenders. We must defend and fight together, winning challenges and blocking shots. This is the basis not only for tomorrow but for the rest.
Conor Bradley was ruled out after injuring his ankle against Crystal Palace and is expected to return at the start of May.
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(Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)