Klopp looking forward to hosting Atletico
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp can finally look forward to hosting Atletico Madrid, 20 months on from their last meeting at Anfield.
When the two last met on Merseyside in March 2020 the pandemic was just starting to take a grip on the world and their Champions League quarter-final second-leg tie ended up being the last match played in England for more than three months, as football – like the rest of the country – was shut down.
At the time Klopp voiced his opposition to the game, which they lost 3-2 in extra-time to go out 4-2 on aggregate, as despite rates spiralling in Spain and the country going into lockdown, 3,000 fans were still allowed to travel and 37 people died unnecessarily as a result of that specific fixture.
But with the majority of the population vaccinated and full crowds back in stadia again, this is now a game Klopp can give his full focus to – even if fewer than 200 Atleti fans are likely to be present due to, ironically, coronavirus concerns.
“A strange 18 months or so since then really. The world turned upside down in parts,” said Klopp, whose side won 3-2 in Madrid a fortnight ago to make it three victories from three. "Not sure we could have imagined it that night, though I think we all had a sense that something interesting could happen to us, to society. I didn’t know to what extent that night.
“It was the one game, when I thought about it later, which I never thought about like a football game. Just in my mind, it was a really strange moment. So now a night like this is coming and we should celebrate it in a football way together with our fans.”