Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool fighting the scars of recent history to avoid all too familiar tag of ‘Forgotten Losers’

“I don’t think people are interested in semi-final losers, same as final losers,” Jürgen Klopp replied swiftly, having been taken back two years – reminded of the occasion he smelt “bullsh*t” if anyone believed then that by drawing Villarreal in the Europa League, his team were already through just because they were favourites. “Final defeats?” he pondered. “I could write a book about that – we all know…”

Liverpool have never been eliminated from Europe having held a lead by three goals and so, it would be to upset history if Klopp does not get the opportunity to try and escape from his own streak of disappointments when cup competitions reach their end. There have been five of them in a row but a passage to Kiev via Rome seems more insecure than it might be for other sides in Liverpool’s healthy position anyway.

The glow of a resounding 5-2 victory at Anfield last Tuesday dimmed swiftly because of the chronology of events: having a five-goal advantage shaven to three; finding out afterwards that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s season was over; the news filtering through about Sean Cox, the Liverpool supporter left for dead by Roma ultras only yards away from the Kop.

Rather than arriving in Italy with the confidence this sort of result usually brings, there is a mood of trepidation – not least because Liverpool have not been particularly good at holding on to such initiatives ever since one was blown at Crystal Palace four years ago this week. Then, the 3-3 draw practically ended the club’s hopes of a Premier League title following a similar season to this one, where the progression has been unexpected and delivered in a breathtaking manner.

Preparations for Rome have been unsettled further by the dramatic departure of one of Klopp’s assistants. Though Liverpool’s statement on the matter suggests there might be a way back for Željko Buvač, it seems unlikely. The same Bosnian newspaper in Buvač’s homeland that the broke the story when Klopp was appointed as Liverpool's manager in 2015 claimed yesterday that Buvač was sensationally set to succeed Arsène Wenger at Arsenal next season.

Klopp did not answer questions about in his relationship with Buvač at the Stadio Olimpico but the Independent understands the decision to separate was taken with Liverpool’s interests placed first. The timing of the development nevertheless is extraordinary because it leaves Klopp without someone who has been by his side for seventeen years since they first met as players in Mainz.

Unsurprisingly, Klopp was determined to focus on football. As well as Villarreal, he was taken back to 2013, the year his Borussia Dortmund team eviscerated José Mourinho’s Real Madrid before hanging on in the return leg a week later. The scorelines? 4-1 to Dortmund in Germany, 2-0 to Real in Spain.

“I think I would take the game again, we played a really good game, eh?” Klopp said grinning, his mind wandering through the details of the period. Like Liverpool, Dortmund were inexperienced in the Champions League. Beating Real so convincingly, “It was not expected for us,” Klopp admitted. “They told us immediately, ‘It will be completely different in Madrid.’ Okay, what does that mean? And they pointed to the atmosphere at all those things. We pretty much killed the atmosphere at the beginning of the game, we had chances from one yard! [Ilkay] Gundogan and [Robert] Lewandowski should have scored, which would’ve had quite an influence on the game. And then about 15 to 20 minutes before the end, Real scored the first one and it got quite exciting."

He continued: “Yes, I would take the result [against Roma] if I wanted to have the same trip [to the final] again but I don’t think anyone wants that. But we are not Borussia Dortmund, they are not Real Madrid, we are another team; it’s in another stadium so we don’t have to think too much about that. We go there actually to try and win the game, that’s the only reason why we go there – not to only lose 2-0.

“In the first moments after the game at Anfield, it was like Roma felt better than we did and that’s crazy,” Klopp added. “It was 5-2 but everyone was like, ‘Oh, now we have to work again,’ but that was clear anyway beforehand. I’m still really happy with the result, I never thought that we’d have to play one game at the highest level before we got to the Champions League final.”

The grim reminders started within minutes of the end of last week’s game, those about Roma needing three goals against Barcelona in the last round and getting them. Then there was the issue of Roma’s impressive defensive record. This is a team that has not conceded at home in Europe this season, a season which has involved games against Chelsea, Atletico Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk and, of course, Barcelona.

Klopp knows that Liverpool’s background in shattering such track records under his guidance has been impressive. When their Champions League campaign began in Hoffenheim last August there were warnings about the German club not losing at home in more than a year. Liverpool went there and won, 2-1. Similarly, when the round of 16 draw was made, sending Liverpool to Portugal, prior notice arrived: “But Porto haven’t lost at home all season…” The final score: Porto 0, Liverpool 5. And what about Manchester City, a team that were unbeaten in the Premier League? That was until Liverpool blew them away at Anfield. Twice.

“If this [Liverpool] team goes to the final it would be an outstanding – outstanding – achievement already,” Klopp stressed. “It is not the prize we want then because if you go to a final then of course you have to think a little bit bigger, but it would be something we could not have expected at the start of the season. We were not even qualified for the Champions League, we had to play a qualifier, and I don't know who else reached the semis having been a qualifier at the start.

“The boys really stepped up. They constantly saw the competition as an opportunity. Losing a player like Phil [Coutinho – who went to Barcelona] in the winter is big on the outside and I can say what I think and we tried to do something to sort it. But the decisive thing is what the boys think in that moment. They obviously missed him and they miss him still because he is a fantastic boy but they stepped up and played football. There have been so many big, big developments this year and it is really good but still there is nothing in our hands – not the Champions League final or even Champions League qualification. Nothing we have done so far has put us in a position where we can relax and take a deep breath.”

Apprehension remains. Rome is the city of a thousand film sets. It is Eat Prey Love. It can also be Gladiator. Romance and pain. It feels like it is impossible to discuss this game – the most important for Liverpool in a decade and the most important for Roma in more than three decades – without mention of supporter safety. On Tuesday, Roma’s players prepared for this game by training in specially made t-shirts with the message Forza Sean in solidarity with the Irishman who travelled to Liverpool last week to watch a game of football with his brother but has spent seven days since in a coma. Klopp was asked whether the issue of security and the threat of the ultras troubles him.

“Yes,” he said emphatically. “I would have one-and-a-half-hour speech if I thought that someone would listen to it. For me, I prepare a football game and that makes it quite special because it is a semi-final. I cannot imagine at some point someone who goes and plans something around the football game. I am still a football fan longer than I was involved in professional football. I don’t know why they have these thoughts and why they want to express themselves in these moments and have bigger fights.

“I really don’t understand and I am absolutely not the right person to talk about it. I have no tolerance for these things. Everybody is so on their toes – lot of stories before the game about what could happen – and I really hope that we are already over the mountain and people are a little bit more aware of what could happen.”

Two cities wait. The tension rises. The possibilities excite. They also invite concern.