The two stars of the Liverpool team, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, revealed their German coach Jurgen Klopp’s talk in the dressing rooms, between the halves of the Villarreal match on Tuesday during the Champions League semi-finals.
The English team was two goals behind in the first half, but came back from afar and scored 3 goals in the second half to qualify for the final of the continental championship, which will be held in Paris.
“Play football,” Van Dijk told BT Sport. “Play the Liverpool way that we applied all season, control the ball and move more in the opponent’s penalty area and behind their defences. They showed your desire to reach the final.”
And the Egyptian Mohamed Salah added to the same channel: It was difficult in the first half, but we talked to each other in the locker room and Klopp spoke to us, the character we showed proves that we are a great team, so we were able to make up for the two goals difference and we won the match.
The coach himself said during the press conference: “They beat us in doubles during the first half. I didn’t talk about the physical aspect and the tackles in the break. I can’t tell you exactly what I said, but it revolved around playing the football we are used to and moving and creating spaces.”
The Reds will face the winner of the Real Madrid-Manchester City match in the Spanish capital, Madrid, later on Wednesday.