Jurgen Klopp is looking forward to the 'difficult' Champions League quarter final clash against Man City, as a mini injury crisis takes hold at Anfield.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the clash the Liverpool boss said:
Man City can win wherever they go but we can win football games as well. I like the difficult jobs because it's the most interesting - what to do in this moment, and prepare your boys as good as possible, from the mental side and physical side, let's go.
Injury crisis?
The Liverpool boss alsorevealed that Joel Matip facing surgery and the end of his season was a 'big blow'. The player had undergone a relatively routine scan and was surprised to be told that he would require surgery.
Joe Gomez is out for the next couple of weeks and both Ragnar Klavan and Emre Can are set to be unavailable for first team selection.
Klopp joked 'If there is a centre-half in the room, I'm open for talks.'
Man City test
Although Liverpool narrowly beat Man City at Anfield a few months back, we were on the wrong end of a 5-0 defeat in Manchester early in the season.
Klopp was asked about that recent victory and the effect it could have on this tie.
That's what we have to do again. In other games, we had to do similar things for sure, we had to be at our best. In a few moments against City, we were at our best.
We are not coincidentally in the quarter-finals, we qualified for that, we are there and yes, we beat City here a few moths ago but we knew before the game it was possible. We knew before the it's possible, but also that it was unbelievably difficult to do it. Now we know it is possible and we know it is difficult again, that's all.
But there will be no pragmatic approach...
Hoping for a clean sheet against City does not make too much sense, it's not a way to defend against them for 95 minutes - you can ignore that immediately.
It's just a big job to do, that's how it is. If we wanted to go as far as possible in this competition , it's clear you will face the best teams in the world at some point. There was no easy game at this stage, they were all difficult, and now we have Man City.
They are quite a special team, that's the truth. They are absolutely deserved champion of Premier League, I'm fine with that.
But in football it's not about being the best, it's about being perfectly prepared for the next game and to do your best. It's not about yesterday, it's about tomorrow.
Liverpool welcome Man City to Anfield tomorrow evening at 7:45pm for the 1st Leg.
Jurgen Klopp Pre-Man City Press Conference
