THE MAGIC WANDA
Reds striker Salah has PSG superstars Neymar & Mbappe in his sights as he guns for Champions League glory in Madrid
JURGEN KLOPP admits the Champions League draw is a “huge challenge”, but insists the biggest test of all in the competition will be facing his Liverpool team.
The Reds were handed a tough group with Paris Saint-Germain – who can boast Neymar (left) and France’s World Cup sensation Kylian Mbappe (right) in their front line – starting as the bookies’ favourites to finish top. With Napoli and Red Star Belgrade also offering some evocative, historic rivalry, Klopp’s men have been handed a big task to get out of the group as they look to go one better than last term.
But the manager insisted his side fear no one. He said: “If you think about the group, you are already out. If you think it is too difficult, you are already out. We don’t think either.
“I expected a difficult group, we have a difficult group and that’s what the Champions League is all about. I am fine with that.
“Now let’s go. It’s a big challenge, but for all the others it is a big challenge to face us. It’s probably fair to say no one was looking at pot three and thinking ‘We want Liverpool’. When you have already a group with PSG and Napoli – two top teams – then you don’t want to have Liverpool as the third team!”
The draw was held in Monaco yesterday, with Mo Salah a surprise guest as he was in the running for two awards – UEFA’s Forward of the Year and Player of the Year.
He won neither, with Luka Modric winning the overall prize, which prompted questions of why Salah was there just two days before Liverpool play Leicester in the early kick-off tomorrow, when another rival, Cristiano Ronaldo – who won the striker’s award – did not even turn up. But Klopp had no issue with UEFA requesting his presence. Salah flew to Nice in a private jet, and then by helicopter to Monaco, with the whole outbound journey taking less than two hours, and the player back in England the same night. The focus for the Reds was more on their opponents. They have had a first-hand look at
Napoli after beating them 5-0 in pre-season, and they lost to Red Star in a famous European Cup tie back in 1973.
Klopp added: “PSG are one of the most exciting teams in the world, so it will be two interesting match ups. It’s a very interesting project over in France with Thomas Tuchel.
“Facing Neymar will be, for our Brazilian guys, like meeting a friend again and all that stuff.
“I’ve been to Napoli with Borussia Dortmund, so I know what the atmosphere is like there. In fact, it’s where I got a suspension for being sent off. I can do better, obviously! Red Star, I watched them last night. They came through and it will be, again, a very, very intense atmosphere I am sure.”
While Reds fans may be nervous, new keeper Alisson is confident that Liverpool have the winning mentality to go one better than last term and lift the trophy this time at Atletico Madrid’s Wanda Metropolitano stadium on June 1 next year.
Speaking to ESPN Brazil, he explained that is the reason he signed for Klopp, saying: “He is a person who gives himself 100 per cent to what he is doing. The chat I had with him before joining Liverpool is one of the things that left me more calm.
“It was a long interview, and he told me about how he works, how I would fit into the squad, how I also could grow personally here. He told me a little bit about the project – a project with a winning mindset.
“Now that I am inside the club I am aware that everything he told me is a reality.
“It is a club that treats you like a family, even the fans. They are very warm – they are famous for it around the whole world. It is a very big club.”