Jurgen Klopp believes Liverpool have to be “ready to suffer” against Villarreal in order to get through tonight’s Champions League semi-final second leg in Spain.
The quadruple-chasing Reds hold a 2-0 lead from last week’s first leg as they look to book their third final in five seasons, but Klopp has warned his players they must prepare themselves for a difficult night at El Madrigal.
“With all these things during the season, obviously with the situation we are in, we must have done something right, that is clear,” said the German, whose side have lost only three times in all competitions this term.
“It is good to know – and it is more a feeling inside, not that we are flying constantly and high-fiving here and there – we are in a good moment.
“But my only concern is what we do tomorrow night and we have to be ready to suffer but not going 1-0 down or whatever – that can happen in football matches – but giving the game the right direction.
“A good example was Newcastle (Liverpool’s 1-0 away win on Saturday); the crowd was obviously very passionate but we did not let it happen, which was the biggest quality of this game.
“It was not a show of football brilliance or whatever. We had our moments and of course could have scored more goals. But how clear-cut the performance was – that was incredible and that is what we have to be.
“Suffering doesn’t mean you suffer for long, it means you suffer (clicks fingers) and then react.”
Meanwhile, Villarreal manager Unai Emery has claimed his side ‘need to play a perfect game’ to have any chance of progressing through to this season’s Champions League final.
The Spanish outfit find themselves 2-0 down on aggregate after last week’s game at Anfield in which Liverpool were truly dominant and Emery was today made aware that Jurgen Klopp’s side have lost just three of their last 56 games across all competitions.
“I didn’t want to hear those details but I did,” the 50-year-old said (as quoted by the Independent).
“It is a difficult task but we are working on the game.
“We need to play a perfect game. We need to find our excellence in certain things and maybe achieve something no one has achieved, which is this kind of comeback.
“We will try to find some weak spots, something that no one has done this season.”
