Liverpool have maximum confidence before second leg
Liverpool FC 5-2 AS Roma. Liverpool have taken the best of the Italians in the first leg of the Champions League and are heavy favorites to move on the Final in a few weeks. Led by Mo. Salah and Firmino scoring respectively a brace, Liverpool had a complete control of the game until the last ten minutes with a large 5-0 lead.
Yet, AS Roma did not give up and were able to score two crucial goals in at the end of the match to reduce the score to a final 5-2.
The Italians will need a similar effort and performance to the one they provided at the last round against Barcelona to advance. A similar 3-0 score will be enough for a Final berth. And, they believe they can do it again!
Liverpool, coach Klopp comments on the win:
“Conceding two goals is not what you want, 100 per cent, but it’s not to change anymore and we can deal with that. That’s football. The boys played a brilliant game over a very long period, even the last few minutes when we conceded. Dejan played a world-class game, was outstandingly good, and this ball he misjudged – he was a little bit too early.
That’s usually no problem if the full-back is in the right position. Trent, who played an outstanding game – a world-class game – is not in the right moment because Dejan won all the balls before. When he [Dzeko] is in a good position, he can score.
Now we have to work again in Rome. That’s no problem. There would have been work for us to do if we’d won 5-0 because Roma would have tried everything to strike back anyway. That’s not a big difference.
And what I learned tonight is that we can win the second game as well, even when it will be different. Roma need to score goals against us. I said it a few times and it should not sound like a warning or whatever, but we are not Barcelona.
On AS Roma responding:
They are one of the two or three best teams in the world and they won so many things in the last few years. We didn’t. So we will fight with all we have for that result again. It’s much better than I could have expected before the game, but now in the moment of course I feel the two goals we conceded still.
We didn’t give any space away; it was not that we were completely open because we are all offensive and then they had one chance after the other. It was not like that, we controlled the game in a very nice football way – good to watch, even for me.
Now it is not over, that’s why somebody thought, ‘let’s play one leg here and one leg in Rome’. It is more exciting and that’s what we do now.”
