Won nothing yet
the first leg against Roma on a magical night at Anfield last week, which saw the Italians humbled 5-2 – a scoreline that stood at 5-0 with 10 minutes to play.
Given the Roma comeback, Klopp will be wary of a backlash tonight against a side who recovered from a 4-1 defeat at the Nou Camp to win 3-0 at home in the quarter-final.
But in his favour is that Roma’s manager Eusebio Di Francesco will not quite ❑ STEVEN GERRARD is edging closer to becoming the new Rangers manager after temporary boss Graeme Murty was relieved of his duties yesterday.
Gerrard, speaking on BT Sport where he is a pundit for this week’s Champions League semi-finals, said: “I’ve held initial talks with Rangers and the plan is to pick them up in a couple of days’ time. There is [an interest] – I’ve held positive talks with them. Obviously I’m busy for a couple of days now, but I’ll pick it up on Thursday and see if I can progress it.” about the Anfield nights that have been outstanding. But the away performances – in Moscow or Hoffenheim – we have been spot on all of the time.
“If Roma beat us, then they deserve it. That’s the game. If we go through then we deserve it. Nothing else to think about. We can deserve the final.”
Liverpool’s numbers have steadily reduced all season with Philippe Coutinho leaving for Barca in January and then injury after injury – particularly in midfield with Adam Lallana, Emre Can and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Even in the build-up to this match, his most trusted assistant coach Zeljko Buvac has walked away.
It has got to a point where Klopp can ill-afford any more disruption, particularly to his midfield. “I don’t think there are many teams in the semi-finals at the moment that have the problems we have,” he said. Yet with every blow they have emerged stronger and more confident, which bodes well.
Moreover, it is hard to see Liverpool not scoring – they have the most goals in the competition with 38, eight more than anybody else.
“We are more convinced about ourselves than we were before the season, that’s 100 per cent,” said Klopp.
“I even liked the way we struggled a bit after Ox came off and not because of Gini [Wijnaldum]. It was because it was a shock for the boys. It was because they care. We needed a few minutes. And then we started again.
“The group is outstanding. How they deal with all the things that happened over the year, I could not ask for more. Nobody doubts our attitude. Not even quality.
“But it’s football. It can work or it cannot work. We have to do it on the pitch.”