Small session of masochism for Jürgen Klopp on the eve of Liverpool’s reunion with Real Madrid in the Champions League. The German coach of the Reds confesses to having seen for the first time the images of the defeat of his team against Merengue in the final, last year at the Stade de France. A painful experience.
“Recently, we played this final, in Paris, and I had not seen it since, until this weekend”, admitted the German coach in a pre-match press conference. “And what I immediately understood was why I hadn’t seen her again,” he added, with a smile. “It was a real ordeal because we played a good match and we could have won (…) but they scored the decisive goal and not us”, he explained.
White house, pet peeve
This defeat was the fifth in the last six meetings between the two clubs, for a draw, but Klopp wants to make a clean sweep of the past. “It was seven or eight months ago (…). It’s the same clubs, but different teams and different times and that’s part of the story.”
With five victories in C1 over the last nine editions for the people of Madrid and three finals in five years for the Reds, “we have the impression that there was always one of us in the final in recent years (…). So we will see who will qualify, ”he also slipped.
Klopp and the Stade de France incidents
He also hoped that the memory of the incidents around the Stade de France, for which UEFA and the French police were named as responsible in an independent report, would not affect the meeting. “Nothing that happened in Paris is the fault of Real and nothing that happened is the fault of our supporters,” he recalled.
“Real fans who come here should be given the best possible welcome, walk around town, go to pubs, that sort of thing, enjoy their time here and go to one of the most historic places in world football. And then two very high-level teams will face each other and I don’t see why the final in Paris should bring anything more,” he concluded.