Jurgen Klopp has urged Liverpool to play with the freedom required to do something exceptional by eliminating the world’s best defensive side from the Champions League.
Holders Liverpool face Atletico Madrid, who took a 1-0 lead from the first leg in Spain three weeks ago, and Klopp warned that if his team are predictable then Diego Simeone's side could go six months without conceding.
In the game at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium, Atletico became the first team for 16 months to prevent Liverpool from registering a shot on target, but Klopp drew heart from his side’s second-half comebacks to argue they will learn the lessons from that sterile display to overcome a team who have a similar refusal to admit defeat.
“We played a team that is probably the world’s best in deep defending,” he said. “They scored a goal that was probably slightly lucky but that is how football is. Nil-nil would have been a brilliant result but we would still have to score [at Anfield]. They don’t go out with the white flag. They fight until the end. That is what we do. That’s why it is so interesting.
“But it is half-time. That’s the best news. For us, half-time in a normal game, we use traditionally in a pretty good way. We like that. We learn from the first half, we show the boys a few situations, and second half, very often, we improve. This time, we had not 15 minutes, we had three weeks. We have to show we learned from the first half and that we really want to go through.
“If you are afraid of going out, you cannot play with freedom and we need this freedom. We need higher speed in different moments, better switches in different moments, we need braver football in different moments, we need to play around the formation, behind the formation, play through the gaps. If you play predictable Atletico's defence will go for the next six months with a rest.”
The Anfield atmosphere was a factor the last time a Spanish team brought a first-leg advantage to Merseyside, with Barcelona losing 4-0, and Klopp hopes the Liverpool crowd can have a similar influence.
“A couple of advantages we didn’t have there are now on our side,” he said. “That we have our crowd will be an advantage, that they don’t have their crowd will be another advantage. We have to use that and we have to produce a performance on the pitch which has to be exceptional in all departments.
“They are a very experienced team and have played in this competition for a long time and they know how to deal with different situations. But I think not a lot of them played before in a stadium like Anfield and an atmosphere we can create.”
Klopp substituted Sadio Mane at half-time in Madrid because he feared the winger, who had been booked, would get sent off but said that, with less of the tie remaining, he would leave him on the pitch.
“Sadio did absolutely nothing wrong,” he said. “In a similar situation in the second game, I probably wouldn’t do the same. But if it was always that easy for you to get out the best player of the opponent then there is something wrong with the game.”
Left-back Andrew Robertson said it is up to the officials to stop Atletico’s gamesmanship, saying: “It is up to the referee to deal with it if it is getting too much.”
Captain Jordan Henderson, who suffered a hamstring problem in the first leg, is fit again, providing Klopp with a selection dilemma in midfield. “Hendo is ready,” he said. “What we do, I don’t know.”
But goalkeeper Alisson remains out and if Atletico score once, Liverpool will require three goals. Klopp is wary of the pace on the break of players such as Alvaro Morata and Joao Felix. “With the counter-attacking threat they are on the other side makes it even more difficult,” he said.
Robertson targeted improvement at both ends of the pitch. “We never had a shot on target so if we do that again then we won’t get through,” he said. “On the flip side we need to keep a clean sheet. We need a complete Liverpool performance.”
