Hitzfeld: “The pressure was really extreme”

According to Ottmar Hitzfeld, he felt more pressure before the Champions League final in 2001 than in the final two years earlier. “The pressure in 2001 was really extreme,” said the former coach of FC Bayern Munich in an interview with DAZN.

“Because I lost 99 and didn’t want to go down in the history of FC Bayern as the coach who lost two finals in two years,” explains Hitzfeld.

Jürgen Klopp is currently in a similar situation. He also failed with FC Liverpool last year against Real Madrid.

Hitzfeld explains how he dealt with this pressure before winning the title with the Bavarians: “I had to do a lot of autogenous training to stay focused so as not to allow any other ideas to flow in. You have to wrestle with yourself. It’s a very stressful time until we finally get going.”

Hitzfeld sees Klopp and his Reds on Saturday against Tottenham Hotspur (from 21 o’clock live on DAZN) in the advantage. “They have the better players. The odds are about 70 to 30 for Liverpool,” said Hitzfeld. Klopp is also “an incredibly strong coach, currently the best German coach. He is one who can mobilize and inspire the whole club. The crew anyway.”