Newcastle vs Liverpool: Reds more than ready for next challenge, says Jurgen Klopp
Liverpool must win at Newcastle tomorrow night to leapfrog Manchester City once again at the top of the league, with City not playing until they host Leicester on Monday night
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Your support makes all the difference.Jurgen Klopp insists there is not the slightest hint of a hangover amongst his Liverpool players after the 3-0 defeat to Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final.
Lionel Messi’s two late goals have tipped that tie firmly in Barcelona’s favour and it will require one of Liverpool’s greatest ever European performances to reach the final on 1 May.
But before they can focus on the return leg at Anfield on Tuesday, attention switches back to the Premier League title race.
The Reds must win at Newcastle tomorrow night to leapfrog Manchester City once again at the top of the league, with City not playing until they host Leicester on Monday night.
But Klopp believes that the manner of the performance in the Camp Nou, in which Liverpool created numerous chances, has ensured that the confidence has not been knocked.
“We didn’t have to pick the players up at the late dinner in Barcelona and give them a hug,” he observes. “That is in us.
“You cannot expect to go to Barcelona and expect to be 3-0 up after the first game and have a holiday game in the second one. It’s not like this.
“In football if you want to win, you need to accept that you can still lose. We did some really good stuff there and we caused them problems.
“It doesn’t happen too often that you lose 3-0 and have much more positive thoughts about the game than negative ones but it was in this game.
“Now we go to Newcastle and this situation that we have had the whole season that there is always the next game.”
Liverpool will be without Naby Keita for this one after the Guinea midfielder tore a muscle in his groin against Barcelona. He will now miss the next two months.
Roberto Firmino is also a doubt after he did not start in midweek and only came on as a late substitute.
Klopp is expecting nothing less than a serious challenge from Newcastle tomorrow night, given that they have won six of their last seven league games at St James’ Park, including a 2-1 win over City back in January.
It pits them against former Reds boss Rafa Benitez, but the current man in the Anfield hotseat knows his players will summon the energy needed for this crucial late push.
“The boys are completely on fire,” says Klopp. “When you are in a race and you see you can win it, you don’t get tired.
“We are ambitious as hell but we still know it is not 100% in our hands. The only thing we can do is beat Newcastle and that is unbelievably difficult.
“That is our problem, not what other teams are doing on Monday night.
“We respect Newcastle a lot and Rafa is doing an incredible job again. We are in a very positive mood looking forward to the game. We know it is difficult but we still want to play.”
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