After the 1st leg and prepare for the 2nd leg of the Champions League last 16
The 2nd leg between Real Madrid and Liverpool after the Merseysiders 2:5 defeat at Anfield will be unforgivable in the 1/8 finals of the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League. Kick-off on 15 March at 20:00 at Santiago Bernabeu and only one club will go further.
With the current form of the Reds, the chances of passing to the next stage are, to put it mildly, illusory. However, if anyone can work a miracle in such circumstances, it is Liverpool.
After the first leg, Liverpool had indistinct matches. Yes, Liverpool took out Manchester United 7:0, but there was also a draw with Crystal Palace 0:0 and defeat from Bournemouth 1:0.
Real Madrid performed even worse. Los Blancos tied with Atletico in the championship 1:1, failed to cope with Betis 0:0, lost in the Cup to Barcelona 0:1 and only they were able to beat Espanyol 3:1.
The German team of referees, headed by Felix Zweyer, has been appointed to referee the meeting.
Win probability
Press conference: Jurgen Klopp on Real Madrid tie
Jurgen Klopp gave a press conference on liverpoolfc.com ahead of the 2nd leg of 1/8 finals UEFA Champions League 2022/23.
On how he’s feeling heading into the second leg of the tie…
I am happy to be here and what I said after the game on the night, three weeks ago, Madrid with the result are through to the next round. But now we are three weeks later and know there is a game to play. And if there is only a one per cent chance, I would like to give it a try. We are here to play an extremely strong opponent and try to win the game tomorrow. As difficult as it is, it is probably possible – not likely, but possible and for that we are here. Then we will see where it leads us to. That is pretty much all.
We respect the competition too much, we respect the opponent too much to not look forward to this game tomorrow, to be honest. It is a tough task, we caused ourselves not a great situation we are in, but as I said, I am looking forward to the game anyway.
On Liverpool’s inconsistent form this season…
I am not sure it is the season where we have the best chance, but let me say if we can surprise ourselves in a negative way then we should be able to surprise ourselves in a positive way as well. If it is going up and down then tomorrow will be up again, but we will see. It is clear, we are not here and telling Madrid, ‘Be careful, we are coming…’ That’s not the situation we are in. We are here to try to win the game – and to win it, we have to play extremely good because there is no other chance. We have to be really on top of our game tomorrow, that is what we will try.
On what Liverpool have to do different from the first leg, tactically…
The only problem we really had from a tactical point of view was the counter-attacks in the second half. In the first half, the goals were not counter-attacks and the situations of the counter-attacks we defended absolutely OK. You cannot avoid or deny Vinicius all the time and you cannot deny Karim all the time, but for a long period we did. We scored our two goals, conceded from a fantastic individual situation from Vinicius for the first one. The second goal was a present from us and then we could have scored a third one.
From a tactical point of view, we have to be super-active with and without the ball. You cannot play against Madrid without defending on an extremely high level. It is a football-playing side, obviously, so our midfield press must be absolutely outstanding. With all the risk we have to take offensively. We have to make sure the counter-attacks we can avoid them as well, so that’s pretty much the thing. Apart from that, I didn’t see a massive problem with our tactical plan or whatever, we just didn’t defend the counter-attacks well enough in the second half and Madrid scored wonderful goals from that, that’s it pretty much.
On how much of a difficult situation Liverpool find themselves in at the halfway point of the tie…
Is this the most difficult [situation]? I don’t know. It is difficult because we will probably not go through to the next round. Here in this room I think 100 per cent of the people think we have no chance and if I am the only one who thinks we are have a little [chance] I am fine. We are the complete outsider for tomorrow, 100 per cent. It is Real Madrid, they are three goals up, that is nothing you want for Christmas or whatever – you don’t want this, but it is the situation now, it is football and we try to give it a go, that’s all.
On whether there is a sense of freedom for the players with ‘nothing’ to lose…
We have nothing to lose, that is a better situation than whether we have to lose everything. The only problem is we can lose a football game, which is actually a really bad thing, we’ve felt that a couple of times this season already, so we don’t like that. If you don’t play a good football game here you don’t only lose, [but] you get a proper knock, because when they start enjoying the game that’s not a moment you should come into. I know what he [Ancelotti] is talking about [saying the pressure is on Madrid], but anyway I would prefer his situation, to have a bit of pressure to defend a three-goal lead, but it’s clear.
Carlo started already warning his team… he’s doing it in public as well. That’s what I said, three weeks ago, [the] tie was done. But now it is after three weeks we still have to play the game; you cannot change that. We are really happy about it, that we are allowed to play the game, I’m pretty sure Madrid would be fine if the game would be cancelled tomorrow, and they would just go through [into] the next round. We are happy about this not really existing chance, but let’s play football, that’s it.
Training photos ahead of Real Madrid trip
The Reds at the AXA Training Centre on March 14 ahead of a Champions League clash with Real Madrid on liverpoolfc.com.
