The rest is history
VJURGEN KLOPP is taking aim at the two biggest trophies in club football – and that is just for starters.
The Liverpool manager, refreshed after the winter break, yesterday called on the Reds to deliver the Premier League and Champions League in the same season.
Before the start of the season he would have snapped your hand off if told they would end their long wait for the league title this summer.
But now there is a real chance they could be English, European and world champions in the same season, not to mention FA Cup winners. When asked about the desire to win the lot, Klopp replied: “That is still to prove. I have no clue, but we should be ready to go for it, just to fight for it.
“Then it is about luck in certain moments to win anything, and that is what we will need for sure.”
Liverpool will look to extend their 22-point lead at the top of the table when they visit Norwich today – and then it is back to defending their Champions League crown when they return to where they lifted it last season.
Klopp’s side face Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their last-16 tie at Wanda Metropolitano on Tuesday.
Liverpool are narrowly behind Manchester City with the bookmakers for this season’s Champions League but Klopp knows there are big threats beyond City who could derail their hopes of winning a seventh European Cup.
“There are so many strong teams out there,” he said. “Juventus were my favourites before the season. Obviously I don’t watch Italian football enough but if Juventus are not 10 points ahead then you can see there are some problems.
“PSG, when they’re all fit, they are just a bomb. That is just a really strong team.
“Bayern are getting more and more in again, Barcelona you can never discount, Real Madrid, Manchester City let’s not forget, because the Champions League will be one of their big targets. We have no clue how far we can go and the only real problem at this moment is Atletico.”
It would not be in Klopp’s make-up to admit it, but the fact that the title is all but won in England should give them an advantage in Europe.
“I really have no idea if we are the strongest team left,” said Klopp modestly. “What I know, and we showed it last year, is that we can beat the best. It doesn’t mean we will, it just means we can.And that is the only thing I have to know.
“Last year Man City were the best team in the world and yet we won the Champions League, so now people are not happy with some things [at City] and we are ‘it’.
“Quality will not be the big difference – it’s who finds the right mood, the right desire. All that stuff can win the decisive challenges and we will see who that can be.”
MO SALAH needs two more goals this season to become the first Liverpool player since Michael Owen 17 years ago to score 20 or more goals in all competitions for three seasons straight. He 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20
still has a long way to go to match Ian Rush, who passed the 20-goal mark in six consecutive seasons during his time at Anfield. 1981-82 1982-83 1983-84 1984-85 1985-86 1986-87 46 43 54 52 52 33 49 51 65 44 56 57 24 28 28
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