Jurgen Klopp urges Liverpool to bounce back quickly from their acrimonious Champions League exit to Real Madrid, with the Reds set to define the season against Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal after the international break.
Jurgen Klopp has demanded that Liverpool get over their bitter disappointment and be ready to attack the week that will define their season.
Liverpool were knocked out of the Champions League on Wednesday night, after failing to put Real Madrid under any significant pressure. A late Karim Benzema goal gave the Spanish giants a 1-0 victory, complementing their 5-2 rout on Merseyside, to reach the quarter-finals.
Klopp’s side don’t have a match now until after the international break but, when they do return, they face trips to Manchester City and Chelsea, as well as hosting Arsenal. It is a sequence of games that will determine if Liverpool will qualify for the Champions League next year.
A dejected Klopp admitted: “With the history we have in this competition, we usually start the competition with the idea of winning it, to be honest.”
“We made it to the final several times, we don’t make it to the final often, that’s true, but we’ve been there three times in the last few years.”
Liverpool was left out of the Champions League after losing 6-2 on aggregate to Real Madrid
Jurgen Klopp has urged his Liverpool players to bounce back quickly from the disappointment, with crucial games against Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal to come in the Premier League.
‘That’s why I really believe that if you want to win the competition, you have to stand out. And we weren’t there tonight and that’s exactly why we went out. But it is THE competition and we want to be a part of it every year, and that is now a huge task for us. We all know that.
“When we return from the international break, we have a good week of football ahead of us, I would say, with three games: City, Chelsea and Arsenal.
‘They will probably define where we will come out of this.
“People might say we lost it at Bournemouth, but I think this week is pretty decisive.”
Liverpool have qualified for the Champions League in each of Klopp’s six full seasons in charge, but their inconsistency has been appalling so far and they never threatened to give Madrid the awkward night that would have made history.
The end of the night was emotional, with Real Madrid playing You will never Walk alone after the final whistle out of respect.
It meant a lot to Klopp, who was frustrated that things were not going well for his team.
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“I wasn’t angry after the game, I was disappointed,” he added.
“I would be angry if we had played better and it was close and they won on a penalty which is not a penalty or things like that, but in the end it didn’t all happen.”
Real Madrid was simply the best team. I’ve been in the business long enough to respect that.
“We are two heavyweights who meet quite often in international competition and it’s clear that we respect each other a lot and yet we did something like that, I have to say it was a very nice gesture.”