As his Liverpool side prepare to face Real Madrid, who they lost to the 2018 UEFA Champions League finalfor a second coronation Since his arrival on the banks of the Mersey, Jürgen Klopp has confided exclusively to the microphone of UEFA.com.
On losing to Real in the 2018 final
First of all, I want to say that this is a world class team, a world class club, which knows how to win football matches. The heart (of the teams that met in 2018), especially the midfield, is still present today. Many things are as before. But their defense has changed a lot. In front, Cristiano (Ronaldo) is no longer there, it’s true, but (Karim) Benzema is still present, with young Brazilians (Vinícius Júnior and Rodrygo) now at his side, so it’s a team first class.
Of course, it’s a good thing to have played finals in recent years. I said it after winning the final (2019) against Tottenham: in all the finals my teams had played before, we played better but we lost. So we have to learn how to win finals and we have won a few; not Champions League finals, but a few others. We are more experienced and that’s probably a good thing.
Liverpool – Real Madrid, all the news
On Liverpool’s vengeful spirit
We faced them, and we lost. What kind of reaction would you like to show? The funny thing is that we played against Madrid in Kyiv (in 2018), we won it in Madrid (in 2019), but in a different stadium (the Estadio Metropolitano of Atlético), and now we are playing again against Madrid. So obviously when you’re in the Champions League final, Madrid are always involved in one way or another.
We have the feeling that we want to catch up, for sure, but that can’t be the main idea. If we go there (saying) like “Vengeance! Revenge! or that sort of thing, it’s not going to go well. It’s not our style. We reached this final in a different way. So we gotta play our football, that’s what we gotta try [de faire].
Liverpool – Real Madrid, presentation
On Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti
It wasn’t until recently that I saw pictures of the strikers he’s coached in his life and I thought, ‘Is there a world-class striker he hasn’t coached? ” It’s crazy. On top of that, he’s an incredibly nice guy. He’s had incredible success and he inspires teams to do incredible things, so yeah, (he’s) a great guy.
On what he built at Liverpool
I don’t know what I want people to think of me. What I want to do for the club is to put in place a structure and a culture for the present moment as well as for after I leave, because the right structure and the right culture should not depend on the people in place; it must depend on the club. If all goes well, then that’s great, you can continue to use it in the future. So that’s it. That’s my goal, really. OK, I only have time to realize that if we win titles on the road.
People never ask me what kind of legacy I want to leave behind at a club, but I was once asked what I want to have on my gravestone. Honestly, it would be something like, “He was a good guy. That would totally suffice, because everything else is… That’s actually my only real concern: not having to knock other people down in order to succeed. This has never happened so far, so I won’t start now.