Jurgen Klopp: Liverpool win over RB Leipzig showed the agnostics wrong, we didn’t slip
Jurgen Klopp after Liverpool’s Champions League first-leg triumph over RB Leipzig in Budapest: “A lot of folks were waiting for us to drop off again and tonight we didn’t. I’m really happy” says Jurgen Klopp.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp delighted his players proved the agnostics wrong and deflected a slip-up with their victory over RB Leipzig.
Klopp’s side burst a run of three consecutive defeats and put one foot in the last eight of the Champions League with a 2-0 win over the German side in Budapest.
Liverpool had lost five of their last seven matches in all events, conceding 14 goals along the way, sparking off rumours on social media over the weekend suggesting Klopp might give up after Saturday’s 3-1 defeat at Leicester.
Klopp accepted their recent run would have made them look dangerous in this fixture away to the Bundesliga title challengers but was happy to see his players turn out the doubters wrong.
Klopp told BT Sport: “You can’t build outlook giants in one game – tonight we were good and we merited to win but it’s only the first leg. A lot of people were expecting for us to slip again and tonight we didn’t. I’m really happy.
“We were really good for two years and this year we’ve had some troubles. It’s absolutely normal that the talk began, it’s absolutely normal, it’s fine. A lot of people would have anticipated us to slip again just because of the position we’re in and we didn’t. That’s what I’m really glad about.”
It looked to be a foxy encounter for Klopp’s team against a Leipzig side that had already defeated both PSG and Manchester United on their way to the eliminate stages, but they met a Liverpool side full of energy in middle and ruthlessness in attack.
Liverpool hit their opponent with a quickfire double after half-time with Mohamed Salah live football streaming and Sadio Mane avenging some inexplicable defending from the Bundesliga side.
Klopp added: “Leipzig can be a extremely monster. The way they play in the Bundesliga, they brim over teams and can be really physical, they are good at all. Tonight we controlled them in an particular way – they had their moments due to their level but we played a really good game. Got the result we merited.
“We defended states really well when we won the ball and we came up direction when we got the ball. The second goal is a really hard ball for the defender to guard when the ball is getting in this manner. You need a little of fate but Sadio was there. For the first goal we ironed them really good and won the ball. On the whole, we defended really good, got well ball retrievals and executed attacking transitions.”