Liverpool will restart their Champions League campaign at San Siro for the first leg of their last-16 meeting with Simone Inzaghi’s side.
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Liverpool are set for a tough Champions League assignment against Inter Milan on Wednesday night. The Reds were excellent in the group stage of the Champions League, as they progressed through an extremely difficult group with relative ease. Liverpool will restart their European campaign at San Siro for the first leg of their last-16 meeting with Simone Inzaghi’s side. Ahead of the mouthwatering showpiece, Jurgen Klopp explained why his boys need to produce a “top-class” performance to get a positive result against last season’s Serie A champions on Wednesday night.
Klopp was asked how different a test Inter will pose compared to the weekend clash with Burnley in the Premier League. “The difference is massive between Burnley and Inter in some parts obviously, but in other parts not so much because it’s a football game and still a football game. If we are dominant then Inter will defend pretty compact,” he told in his pre-match press conference.
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“I’m pretty sure it will not be as windy or rainy as it was at Burnley, so that’s a big difference as well. Apart from that, Inter is an absolute top, top, top-class team. Top-class players, top-class manager, were champions last year. With all respect to the other teams, I think it’s probably the best team this year again in Italy, you can see it in the table at the moment.
“They look really rock-solid, they have creativity on the pitch, they are very well organised, very well drilled in everything they do. And the individual quality is big. So that’s Champions League, no doubt about that. That is a top-class team and we need to show a top-class performance to even have a chance. But why shouldn’t we try?
Asked about the removal of the away goals rule, Klopp said, “We can say more about that after the two games. But actually, I can’t remember a game when we went somewhere and thought, ‘OK, at least a goal would be great’ or something like that. So we go there to get a result, whatever that means. I don’t know what would be a good result in the moment – winning would be great, maybe a draw we have to take. We will see that.”
“First and foremost, we have to play the game. Actually, I liked the rule always even as a supporter before – longer in my life I watched the Champions League than I was part of it and I liked the rule. I don’t know exactly why they scrapped it but it’s now gone and it’s all OK. We deal with that, but I think it’s not a massive impact on the way we play because we don’t go there to get somehow through the game, we try to play our best game, to be honest, and to win it. But that’s really difficult.”
