Klopp: We need to play two great games to advance. Real don’t have to play well and still have a chance

One of the most attractive Champions League eight finals is coming up. Liverpool will challenge Real Madrid on Tuesday night, a team they have been no match for in recent years. Klopp knows it will take two great performances to advance.

Real Madrid and Liverpool have had only one winner in recent years. In last season’s Champions League final, Los Blancos won 1: 0, in 2020/21 both teams faced each other in the quarter-finals, the royal club won 3: 1 at home, and a 0: 0 draw was born at Anfield Road.

In the 2018 final in Kiev, Real Madrid also won 3:1, in the 2014/15 edition there was a clash in the group stage, the Spanish side won 3:0 and 1:0.

Jürgen Klopp knows very well that if Liverpool want to knock out their executioner of recent years, they have to give absolutely perfect performances in both matches. And he also knows that Real Madrid don’t need the same to advance.

“We need to play two great games to move on. Real Madrid don’t have to play well and they still have a chance. I’m really happy that we are playing this game now and not a few weeks ago,” Klopp highlighted Real Madrid’s strength at the press conference while confirming the Reds’ improved form.

He will face Carlo Ancelotti again after a few months, who is highly respected by all his colleagues. And the German coach is no exception.

“Carlo is the most relaxed manager I have ever met in my life. He’s brilliant, smart, kind and his leadership of the team is on a completely different level to the rest of us. I respect and admire him very much. He has a first-class team and has brought in super exciting young players,” Klopp expressed his admiration for his counterpart.

The two teams have relatively fresh experience together, although they are both in different mindsets. But Klopp doesn’t want to think about the final in Paris anymore.

“They are different games. I haven’t seen the final in Paris since then, until this weekend. Now I know why I didn’t see it (laughs), but I had to. We played a good game, but we didn’t manage to win. You can see Real Madrid’s experience in that game, they don’t lose it even when the opponent has chances. That’s what you can learn from them,” recalls the German coach of the May duel.

Source: UEFA