WE MUST BE BRAVE
JURGEN KLOPP has told his players to go for the jugular in tonight’s Champions League clash of the big beasts.
The Liverpool boss knows his stars cannot sit back and wait to be torn apart by Manchester City’s pack of predators.
Instead, they must be on the front foot and take the fight to the runaway Premier League leaders.
Klopp has described it as the tie of the round, and one that the whole world will be tuning in to see, and there is no wonder.
Pep Guardiola’s side are a wonderful attacking side, but Liverpool are the one team to match them in that department. In fact, Liverpool are top scorers in the Champions League this season with 34 goals.
Klopp has also overseen six wins against Guardiola – the best record of any manager – including this season’s thrilling 4-3 victory at Anfield.
The German said: “Look, it’s difficult to be brave against them because you can suffer. But it is unbelievably difficult to defend against them – and hoping for a clean sheet against Manchester City does not make much sense.
“Yet we are difficult to defend against, too. You give us the chance to play one pass and it is very difficult to stop the next one. We either miss the chance or we score.
“If you are West Brom, you cannot be brave against City because you cannot attack them high or they run through you like a warm knife through butter. You have no chance.
“But we can. You need to have a plan for your players and then it is a mix of quality and character. We all have to use the skills of the players.”
For Klopp, the key now is courage. He knows City will score goals against his side, because they do against every team in Europe. He knows – quite simply – his team must score more. And the Reds’