Jurgen Klopp has sent a warning to his Liverpool players after they qualify for the semifinal and will meet Villarreal.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has warned his side ahead of their clash against Villarreal in the Champions League semifinal.
Villarreal qualified for the Champions League following Unai Emery master class against a tough Bayern Munich side in the quarter final.
Liverpool also heads into the semifinal after their intense match against Portuguese side Benfica last night at Anfield.
The game ended in a 3-3 draw but the Reds qualified on a first leg 3-1 advantage against Benfica.
Speaking ahead of the semifinal against Villarreal Klopp has warned his side not to take the Spanish side for granted when they meet.
“First and foremost, when we qualify for the semis and I’m not happy, please knock me out,” said Klopp, who made seven changes to his team. “We did a lot of good things and then this last line never played together and it is about details, it is difficult to concentrate fully.
“We did not have the 1000 percent mindpset, it is not important, if we had played the best game of the season tonight. Benfica deserved their three goals. We are through now and let’s give it a proper try.”
Klopp made several changes to the game against Benfica as he said the last four never played together.
He added was impressed with the Villarreal result as he claims they deserve to be in the semifinal after the knocked-out Juventus and Bayern Munich.
“The one thing we knew is that it would be hard,” said Klopp. “This last line never played together, you lose Virgil’s voice, the rest and rotation is never a problem, Benfica kept going and for us it was important we can make changes and still be successful.
“I saw the Villarreal result. It was really impressive. They kicked out Juventus and Bayern so deserve it. It is really good, the manager is king of the cups, when we play them we will be ready but give me time to prepare properly.
“We never take something like this for granted. I am really happy. I know people talk about goals conceded and all these things and the day I am not over the moon about getting to the semi-final, something is really wrong.”
Speaking after the match as well Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson told BT Sport: “I think we’d want to do better overall, we started well, could have scored a couple more. We’re really disappointed at the goals we conceded.
“At 3-1 it is never over, we’re through which is the most important thing. Villarreal are not to be taken lightly, they’re a good team in their own right, it will be a very difficult tie. Hopefully we can progress to the final.
“We definitely don’t take it for granted, to get into the semis is massive, we want to do our very best and take it game by game. There’s a lot of football over the next couple of months.”
