FAB FOUR
Mane and Van Dijk put Liverpool through. Now England have a
JURGEN KLOPP hailed one of Liverpool’s great European away days as a dismantling of Bayern Munich propelled them into the Champions League quarter-finals.
Two goals from Sadio Mane plus a towering header from Virgil van Dijk ensured there will be four Premier League representatives in the last eight for the first time since 2009, as they joined Tottenham and the Manchester clubs.
Klopp said: ‘The boys love this competition,’ and Liverpool believe they can go on
to win the competition after this performance. Liverpool overcame the early loss of captain Jordan Henderson to dominate the Germans and were in no way flattered by the score. Klopp believes they have put down a marker to be one of the favourites to go all the way to the final in Madrid on June 1. ‘In a game like this you can never rest,’ he said. ‘It is absolutely deserved. It is so difficult to play away at Bayern Munich. It is a big one. I am so proud of the boys. ‘Henderson twisted his ankle. Hopefully it is not too serious. Making early changes is never a good time. ‘The first goal, I want to watch it back 1,000 times! Defensively it was so good. We didn’t defend the way we do usually in Champions League away games, the desire was outstanding.
‘Virgil van Dijk gives organisation on set-pieces and he is dangerous. He is a massive threat. The size we have, the power we have ... his was a big goal. In a game like this, there will be mistakes but you have to control the moments you can control and stay in the game. ‘The game didn’t look like Bayern ever outplayed us. We could have scored another one with that chance for Mohamed Salah.’
Henderson left the stadium without the need for crutches but will almost certainly miss Sunday’s trip to Fulham and there must now be a doubt about whether he can meet up with England for their upcoming Euro 2020 qualifiers. The only other blip was a stoppage-time booking for Andrew Robertson, which means he will be suspended for the first leg of the quarter-finals.