Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was unimpressed with his side’s barren stalemate against Bayern Munich in the Champions League round of 16 on Tuesday night at Anfied.
“It’s not the result or the game we dreamed of,” said the German, who felt the two giants showed a lot of respect, making the game “uncomfortable.”
“Not really a lot of things happened in the game but it was an intense one. You saw the respect both teams had for each other.
A lot of situations I didn’t see in all the games when we watched Munich, to be honest – like how the full-backs stayed in their own half protecting, how Gnabry defended on the wing in two-v-one situations, and stuff like that.
There was a lot of respect involved in the game and that made life uncomfortable.”
Liverpool looked better in the first half and created more chances with Sadio Mane coming close to scoring but generally the game failed to live up to the hype.
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Klopp admits the second half was particularly flat.
“But in the first half we still had chances; if Sadio hits the ball a bit better, he strikes twice with a bicycle kick, which is obviously pretty rare. How it always is, a goal would have changed the game. It was like it was. The first half was still absolutely OK, we created. In the second half nobody created anymore.”
The Reds focus shifts to a big weekend clash against arch rivals Manchester United in the Premier League.
After a poor start to the season under Jose Mourinho, United are back firing from all cylinders under interim manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
The Red Devils last outing was a convincing 2-0 win over Chelsea in the FA Cup on Monday night.
The Red Devils therefore heads into the game on a high and Klopp admits it will not be an easy match.
“Now we have to recover and then we have to prepare for Manchester United – and they are obviously in good shape, which we all saw yesterday [against Chelsea].
I don’t think about it now, but I know it will come and now we start preparing that game. It’s another tough one and that’s how football is at a top club – we played Bayern tonight and then Man United at the weekend, that’s cool actually, but it will not be easy of course.”
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