Liverpool have taken ‘really good step’, says Klopp

Scott Anderson
Jurgen Klopp: Insists Liverpool have quality to score goals

Jurgen Klopp: Insists Liverpool have quality to score goals

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says his team have taken a “really good step” after beating Augsburg 1-0 to qualify for the last 16 of the Europa League. 

The Reds progressed to the next round courtesy of a James Milner penalty in the first half, but failed to seal the tie with a number of clear-cut chances missed.

But Liverpool managed to hang on to progress to the last 16 of the Europa League, and now go into Sunday’s Capital One Cup final against Manchester City having kept three clean sheets in three games.

Despite Liverpool’s wastefulness in front of goal, Klopp appeared unfazed, and even joked his players were resting their shooting boots for Sunday’s big game.

Speaking after the match, Klopp said: “We keep them for the final, it’s good preparation for the final now we know our way to goal.

“I’m not frustrated, football is like this. You have to create chances and we have the quality to score goals, everybody could see this.

“They had brilliant goalkeeping and sometimes the amount of luck you need. We could have done better but that’s all. We had six or seven really, really good chances and that’s enough.

“In another game, we will score goals for sure.”

Klopp took heart from the Reds’ display, particularly with his players focusing on the task at hand instead of letting their minds wander to the clash with City.

He added: “Everything is okay. We made the right decisions with the line-up, with the style of play.

“We were really, really lively from the first second on, we showed that we want this game and we were not in mind for the game on Sunday. That was a really good step tonight.”

Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson also took the positives, but acknowledged their finishing needed to be better.

“Yeah it is frustrating,” said Henderson. “I think we started the game well, created a lot of chances and should be scoring two or three and killing the game off early doors.

“If you don’t do that then you give that a tough battle in the second half because you know they go through.

“Still a lot of positives to come out because we won the game and we look forward to Sunday now.”