Coach Jürgen Klopp of Champions League semi-finalist FC Liverpool sees the giant duel with FC Barcelona in the coming week as a special challenge. The two title candidates will cross the blades in the round of the last four of the king’s class, Klopp, who has had several runs against Barca’s archrivals Real Madrid with Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool, is looking forward to a change of pace.
In an interview with DAZN, Klopp said it was “important” for him to play against Barcelona once: “I’ve played against Real many times before, but never in Barcelona. You want to see what you can do. The cool thing about playing Barcelona is that you’re never the favorite. Dealing with the role, perhaps doing things differently than others, that is appealing. Even though I haven’t thought about it in concrete terms yet.”
But the Reds coach was not afraid of the meeting with Lionel Messi and Co. at Camp Nou. As he revealed, they took him on a trip to Catalonia in December 2016: “Once we were there with Liverpool on a Christmas trip, in a game against Gladbach – that was very clear (Barcelona won in the CL preliminary round 4:0, editor’s note). But to have seen alone that this is only a stadium and not a temple was certainly important.”
In addition to Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal (both in the Europa League) are three other English teams in the European Cup semi-finals. After years of Spanish dominance, Klopp does not yet see a trend reversal, but sees signs that the clubs on the island could continue to set the tone in the immediate future.
“In general, there are a few big clubs in the process of regrouping. Real has given up Cristiano, the Bavarians are in upheaval. This will soon be the case with other clubs as well,” explained the 51-year-old. “In England, however, the top four have a very good age structure at the moment. And of course there are a few other reasons why there are so many good footballers running around here in England.”
Klopp, however, restricted: “English football is very good right now, the national team too, the top 6 are all very good – but that’s never a guarantee for the future. They haven’t booked a ticket of ten yet.”
The Champions League is not Liverpool’s only remaining chance to win the title on the home stretch of the season. In the league, the former record champion fights Manchester City for the first championship since 1990. Klopp knows what it’s like to win league titles – and celebrate them. In 2011 and 2012 he triumphed with BVB in the Bundesliga and then celebrated at Dortmund’s Borsigplatz.
A place where, according to his own statements, he had been several times before, but not for inspiration: “Only because I often passed by there. I didn’t drive all the way from somewhere to Borsig Square. I honestly don’t know where the master tour is going, but I’m spontaneous.”
