Madrid: Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp said his side have just a ‘one percent’ chance of reaching the UEFA Champions League quarter finals, but insisted they would give everything to cause an upset against Real Madrid Wednesday.
Liverpool travel to Madrid needing to make up for their 5-2 defeat in the first leg at Anfield. Speaking in his pre-game press conference, Klopp admitted that “nobody believes” in his side’s chance of overcoming the deficit, but added that “after Anfield I said that Madrid was going to be in the quarterfinals and now I think we have to play. Even if there is only a one percent option, I would like to try.”
“It will be unlikely, but at the same time possible. If we are capable of being negatively surprised by horrible nights, we should also be able to do it positively by some spectacular ones,” said the Liverpool coach.
“We’re going to try to beat them,” insisted Klopp, who said that tactically his side had “only to correct the counterattacks.”
“We have to be very active. We can’t think of winning without defending at an extremely high level. We assume that we will have to take risks, but hopefully we can avoid their counterattacks,” he continued.
Klopp added that Spanish youngster Stefan Bajcetic was likely to be another addition to Liverpool’s long injury list for Wednesday, with Thiago Alcantara, Joe Gomez, Naby Keita and Luis Diaz already out.
IANS