Battle of the super strikers
Bullish Klopp wouldn’t swap his strike-force for anyone... no, not even PSG’S £420M Mbappe, Neymar, Cavani dream team
JURGEN KLOPP would not swap his attack for any in the world... not even Paris Saintgermain’s, the most expensive strike force in history.
Tonight’s
Champions
League clash between
Liverpool and the French club at Anfield is being billed as an all-star shootout.
In the Reds’ corner is the Kop trio of Roberto Firmino,
Sadio Mane and Mo Salah – while PSG can boast the combination of Kylian Mbappe, Edinson Cavani and Neymar. Despite the stellar opposition, Klopp (below) is adamant there is no contest in his mind.
He insisted: “I love my players, all of them, so I don’t want to change anything. I wouldn’t change them.” But he is wary of an attack that cost PSG a mind-blowing £420million to assemble.
Klopp said: “I watched Paris, I watched them last year and I watched them this year, and
LIVERPOOL have been transformed under the command of Jurgen Klopp – but he is not satisfied.
The club, he says, is unrecognisable from the one he took over in 2016, yet he is still waiting to make the final step and claim some glory.
“In this moment, it is a different club to the one I joined,” Klopp said. “And that was necessary.”
Yet, as the Reds welcome Paris Saint-germain on another pulsating night of Champions League football, for what looks the tie of the group stages, there is no sense of achievement.
There is no boasting or chest-beating from the manager because, for all the progress at Liverpool, there have been no trophies over the past three years.
Klopp is a winner, and for him, the next step is simple: there must be glory. Without honours, without titles, he argues with real passion, there can be no rest or let up.
“We are in the place where we want to be without being satisfied with anything,” he said. “We are still in a really good moment, but we are not a little bit satisfied. There is nothing in us that thinks that’s it.”
“It’s good but we want it better for the club and the people, and that is what we really try to do.
“We are a challenger again for pretty much everything, especially in each game. I don’t think there is any game in the world where you would say beforehand, ‘No chance Liverpool,’ which is good. That doesn’t mean we will win. But that means it is clear we have a chance, if we play our best. That is exactly what we try.”
Three times so far under Klopp, Liverpool have fallen at the final hurdle – in three finals. Last season’s Champions League defeat was the most painful of all, coming as it did after the Reds dominated against Real Madrid until Mo Salah was kicked out of the game.
Yet Klopp is adamant there is no fall-out from that defeat, as five straight wins from the start of the season shows. In fact, it is the opposite.
By making the final and showing they could compete with Madrid and can go into a showdown with a PSG side who have a £420million forward line on equal billing, Liverpool have posted notice of their return to the summit of world football.
“There was no damage from that defeat. No, absolutely not. I think we got a lot of respect because of the way we played last season,” Klopp said. “I think everyone who saw the final against Madrid saw we could have won it against a side in a completely different moment.
“People in football saw that. They see the games we played. They saw Manchester City, they saw Roma, they saw Porto. There was a lot of respect.
“That is not too important for me, but it is important for the club and the players. The players we spoke to in the summer or a little earlier, they were different talks to those I had the previous year or before.”
Tonight’s Anfield encounter shows how far Liverpool have come under Klopp. But he wants them to keep progressing.
“We have shown that (progress), but that doesn’t mean anything for this game. We have to show it again – that’s our life.
“Do all the good things again and again. Be stubborn, if you want. Do it and don’t care too much.”