Klopp: Champions League is a money-throwing competition.. we to qualify to compete with the likes of City

JURGEN KLOPP is deliciously blunt when he considers what the Champions League means: “It is a money-throwing competition!”

“It is what it is – a money-throwing competition, and we have to be in it as long as possible because we have to improve the situation for the club. It’s not like we always ask people, ‘Do you have some money? Do you have some money?’

“We have to earn most of the money for ourselves with the football we play. That is exactly what you can do in the Champions League. When we beat Napoli? I’m not sure how much, but it was worth a lot of money in one game.

“I didn’t think a second before that game, ‘Oh my God! We have to earn this money for the club!’ We only wanted to go through. After we got through it was like, ‘Wow! That’s proper!’”

Those words put into stark perspective just how much the visit to Munich means to Liverpool (Jordan Henderson and Adam Lallana boarding the plane, below). City are being investigated over Financial Fair Play concerns, but Klopp has refused to be drawn on that. Instead, another thing concerns him. There are those who say the game, even against a side as mighty as Bayern, holds no pressure for his team, because the prize of chasing the Premier League will soften the blow. Yet the German laughs at the suggestion. For him, even putting aside the issues of finance on which his club’s future depends, the sheer majesty of the occasion and scale of the game, is enough to deliver the right sort of pressure for his players. “We are a proper contender in a difficult competition with only fantastic teams left,” he added. “The boys like this kind of game. There are only two interesting games in the whole of Europe that night. Let’s play them, let’s watch them. This is the spotlight you want as a professional football player. “If it happens, it will be a great night. If it doesn’t happen, it is not the end of the world.

“But I don’t think for a second that it will not happen. It is important to everyone.”