Jurgen Klopp insisted Liverpool are not on a “revenge tour” at Real Madrid despite the narrative suggesting otherwise following on from the 2018 Champions League final.
The Reds meet the Spanish outfit for the first time since that final in Kyiv on Tuesday and while one of the key figures in Sergio Ramos will be absent, revenge is the talk of the town.
Klopp’s men would, of course, go on to return to the main event and seize their moment to add No. 6 to the cabinet, but 2018 is a defeat that left many with a sense of what if.
And the two will now meet in the quarter-finals and while Klopp admitted he the draw brought memories of the game to the surface, the only desire is to show how good of a team Liverpool are in this exact moment.
“We are not on a revenge tour here. Life is like this. I don’t believe too much in revenge, but it would be nice to get through,” Klopp told reporters.
“We feel in a good moment in the Premier League. Now we hope to keep that momentum. That would be very helpful.
“Our motivation is at the highest level because it is the Champions League and we want to go to the next round, it has nothing to do with 2018.
“But when we got the draw, because it is the first time that we played them since then, I remembered the game.
“I said it after that game that if someone asked me in a press conference maybe a month later if I would invite Sergio Ramos to my 60th birthday party I would say no.
“Meanwhile, I would think about it again. It’s not because he’s a great footballer but I said I didn’t like what happened that night, for us it was a strange night.
“It was long ago and so I can’t get feeling back, that anger, so I don’t even try. What I try is to prepare my team for tomorrow to show how good we are as a football team.
“It’s a difficult season for us but we want to show how good we are. If we are better or score more goals than Real Madrid, then we go to the next round.”
And while the final in Kyiv saw Liverpool dominate the early proceedings before Mo Salah‘s untimely injury, Klopp is now savouring the chance to play a “football-playing side” as he embraces the “challenger” tag for a place in the semi-finals.
“We were good in the game, that’s true and after [Salah] not that good. Actually, our team is built for this kind of game,” he added.
“We face a football-playing side which is very helpful for football in general but for our defending as well.
“That’s why we have a chance. I heard outside everyone said Real Madrid are the favourites, no problem with that! They are used to the role and we have no problem with the role of the challenger.”
Fan Comments