Jurgen Klopp has issued a rallying cry ahead of our semi-final against Villarreal on Thursday night.
In a pre-match interview he admitted he was surprised by Villarreal’s excessive celebrations after the first leg, and said he doubted the Spaniards really understood what lay in store when they walk out at Anfield.
“I do not know what they know about Anfield,” Klopp said (via Echo).
“If we can create with our game a similar atmosphere as Dortmund then it will be much more difficult for Villarreal than they imagine in this moment.
“They scored in the last minute of the game to make it 1-0 so it’s not a big surprise that they celebrated like this. It’s more about when my colleague (Villarreal boss Marcelino) said after the game that 1-0 was the result he dreamed of.
“It’s not that I always from now on expect wonders from us or the crowd in difficult close games, but we all felt how big the influence is of an outstanding atmosphere. In this week of wonderful weather on Merseyside everybody could be in the perfect mood.”
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“It’s the whole package – another atmosphere, another game,” he continued.
“Obviously before the first game the things we knew were based mainly on our analysis but now we’ve seen things in the game itself. That’s why the second leg is always different.
“Before the draw you would want the first leg away and the second at home because you can fix a few things and change a few things. That’s what we have tried to do. It’s a new game and it’s a big opportunity.
“It is a semi-final. Everything is possible. We are young enough, healthy enough and still in a good shape. We know a lot about the opponent so we can play this game.
“Everybody maybe expects from the first second that we need to be on fire and that we will press them in their own half. A lot of things are possible and I don’t want to talk too much about what we’ll do because hopefully we can surprise them a little bit but it is about playing smart.”
We need to win by two clear goals if we are going to progress in the 90 minutes and avoid extra time.