Lifting trophy would put Klopp on top of the world
● Final is special for Liverpool, even if rest of Europe sneers at competition
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp admits winning the Club World Cup will do little to change the attitude towards it back home – but for him and the players it is currently the most important competition.
Klopp was criticised for taking his full first-team squad out to Qatar and leaving behind a hugely-inexperienced youth team to get beaten 5-0 by Aston Villa in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup.
However, victory for today’s opponents Flamengo would be greeted as the greatest day in the club’s history, having already won the Copa Libertadores, Brazilian championship and state championship.
Back in 1981 they beat Liverpool3-0inthefinalofthiscompetition in a previous form, but doing so again would be regarded as an even better achievement by fans of the Rio de Janeiro club.
It is a discrepancy Klopp would like to address, but accepts he probably cannot. “The situations are different from Flamengo and us,” said the German, who will make a late decision on Virgil Van Dijk’s fitness after the centreback trained yesterday having missed Wednesday’s semifinal against Monterrey. Midfielder Georginiowijnaldum will miss the final with a hamstring problem.
Klopp added: “Flamengo got sent here with a clear order to win it and to come back as heroes. We got told stay home andplaythecarabaocup.that is a massive difference.
“When Flamengo go back, and if they win, they will have aproperparty–weplayleicester. That is how it is. The view in Europe is different to the rest of the world and I’d very much like to change that. Will it (a Liverpool victory) change the view in Europe? Probably not. Liverpool fans want us to win. Most of the other fans don’t really care.
We cannot make the competition bigger, but for us it is the most important because it is the only game we play.
“For us it feels really special. We feel the tension, but we feel it as a massive opportunity and we want to try it.”
Goalkeeper Alisson, pictured, is keen to make history by securing Liverpool’s first Club World Cup in three attempts.
He said: “At 14, my former club Internacional became Club World Cup champions in 2006 and I watched it as a fan. Then I started to dream of this. We want to win it.”
While Klopp has stressed the significance of the match, having flown more than 3,000 miles, he is keen not to build it up to more than it is.
This trophy, in its various guises, is the one piece of silverware which the club has yet to lift as even the great side of the 1980s (twice) and the 2005 Champions League winners came up short. But Klopp will not be telling the players this is their chance to make their mark on history.
“That is not something I will use in a meeting: that we can become a legend if we win the competition,” he added.
“That keeps your mind away from the necessary things. If someone sees the boys as legends afterwards then great but you can’t go for being seen as a legend just win games.”
Liverpool scored an addedtimewinnertobooktheirplace in the final, yet another in a season of late interventions which haveseenklopp’ssideestablish a 10-point lead at the top of the Premier League after 16 wins and one draw.
But when it was suggested they went into the game with an edge over their opponents, he said: “We don’t see us as a team who can’t lose but a team who has to work their socks off to have a chance to win.”