The manager’s measured assessment of the exhilarating 5-2 Champions League semi-final victory contrasts with the blame game of his Roma counterpart Eusebio Di Francesco
The awe and wonder from a remarkable Anfield night has not diminished the day after. Fifteen minutes to play in a Champions League semi-final and Jürgen Klopp thinks of Stoke. Almost 60% remains of a tie to decide the cream of Europe’s elite and it is Bruno Martins Indi, Erik Pieters and Mame Biram Diouf who enter the Liverpool manager’s head as he withdraws Mohamed Salah to safeguard against injury. What’s more, he admits it too. “I’m not thinking of one game,” Klopp said. The thought was justified, and another measure of Liverpool’s astonishing command over Roma. Respite from Salah is temporary.
Uefa ranked Liverpool the No 1 team in Europe in February 2009 based on a five-year period of success and consistency under Rafael Benítez. A month later they revelled in a 4-0 destruction of Real Madrid that took Benítez’s team into the Champions League quarter-finals, following a semi-final appearance in 2008, a runners-up spot in 2007 and the ultimate triumph in 2005.
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