As Liverpool eye another memorable comeback in their Europa League quarter-final tie against Atalanta, Jurgen Klopp has told his players: “If we fail, let’s fail in the most beautiful way”.
Klopp’s final season at Liverpool is threatening to unravel, with the Reds relinquishing control of the Premier League title race and requiring a miraculous fightback to keep their European hopes alive.
Atalanta produced a stunning performance to win 3-0 at Anfield in last week’s first leg, leaving the Reds needing to win Thursday’s second leg in Bergamo by at least three goals to have any chance of progressing.
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Liverpool famously overturned a 3-0 first-leg deficit to claim a 4-3 aggregate win over Barcelona in the 2018-19 Champions League semi-finals, with Divock Origi scoring the decisive goal following a quickly taken corner from Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Asked whether Thursday’s pre-match message will be identical to the one he gave his players five years ago, Klopp said he will demand a brave approach.
“I don’t usually prepare for this on the day before. I will think about what I will say to the boys tomorrow,” Klopp said at Wednesday’s pre-match press conference.
“I remember that I said, ‘if we fail, let’s fail in the most beautiful way’, and I’ll say that again.
“A lot of supporters thought that was it [against Barcelona], but now less people think it is already decided.
“We are here, that’s good, so let’s see. If we win, the players will find a reason to tell the world what I told them, but if we lose nobody will want to hear what I said.”
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) April 17, 2024
Asked if he saw similarities between the Barcelona tie and the situation his team currently find themselves in, Klopp said: “The result was similar, definitely. The performance, not really.
“We lost 3-0 in Barcelona and people didn’t know how. Now we lost 3-0 at home and are away, it’s a massive difference.
“We are here and will try to win the game, that’s all. That’s what we should do. We shall see if that’s possible.
“We had some really good moments last week, but they completely deserved to win and played a good game.
“Let’s start with a much better performance and try to win the game, then we will see how much time is left at the end.”
