Klopp could face Mario showdown
MARIO BALOTELLI could be set for a reunion with Liverpool – if the Reds draw Nice in today’s Champions League play-off draw.
Jurgen Klopp’s side are seeded for the draw, which will take place at 11am this morning in Nyon, Switzerland.
They could face French outfit Nice, German side Hoffenheim, Turkish club Istanbul Basaksehir, Young Boys from Switzerland or Romanian outfit Steaua Bucharest.
But a meeting with Balotelli’s Nice would be the eye-catching tie as they look to secure a spot in the Champions League group stages.
Balotelli, 26, left the Reds last summer on a free, just two years after they spent £16m to bring him from AC Milan.
Mistake
He scored just two goals and spent his last season on loan back at AC Milan.
The Italian said Klopp spoke to him just once after the German arrived at Anfield in 2015 and that joining Liverpool was the worst mistake of his life.
So it could be an uncomfortable meeting if Liverpool and Nice are drawn together today.
While Balotelli’s face did not fit at Anfield, Klopp is determined to keep Philippe Coutinho out of Barcelona’s clutches.
But he does not want his team to rely on the Brazil ace after their season crumbled when Coutinho and Sadio Mane missed periods of the last campaign.
“We need to be independent of one or two players,” he said. “We still have to have a style, a way of playing, and if we need to play differently, we have to have a way.”
While Klopp has so far failed to sign the central defender and midfielder he wants this summer, he will have competition in other areas.
“If we stay together like this there will be a few hard decisions because they can’t start all together,” he said.