Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has said his players will take inspiration from the club’s history as he urged them to keep cool in the Capital One Cup final against Manchester City at Wembley on Sunday.
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Manchester United and Liverpool will face each other for the first time in European competition after being drawn together in the Europa League last 16 on Friday.
“It’s great”, Liverpool’s German boss Juergen Klopp told reporters following the draw.
“It is not easy but you can ask my staff. They asked me yesterday who do we want and I said Manchester United”.
“I think back to those finals I did win as a player and in the build-up the managers were crucial”.
Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool were the better team and deserved their victory against Augsburg in the Europa League. We created a lot of chances and didn’t concede chances ourselves and when you are playing a team that is right at the top in Italy, that’s full credit to our players.
The five minutes of injury time were fairly uneventful and the reds qualify for the final 16 of the Europa League where they will have to be a lot more lethal in front of goal if they want to progress.
James Milner’s fifth-minute penalty proved decisive as, even though they dominated, the hosts could not put the game to bed after a string of good saves from goalkeeper Marwin Hitz and as a result endured a nervous final 15 minutes. We deserve these games.
United and Liverpool have never met each other in European competition before. The first match will be played on March 10th at Anfield with the return leg to follow week later at Old Trafford on March 17th.
Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs impressed with a 3-0 win over Fiorentina at White Hart Lane on Thursday to secure a 4-1 aggregate success, having lost to the same opposition at the round of 32 stage a year ago.
Whilst Liverpool and United’s tie is the big story of the draw, Spurs got themselves a high profile tie, against one of the favorites to win the competition, Borussia Dortmund. Some of the players, especially Manuel Pellegrini on the bench look like they can’t wait for the final matchday.
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“They are recovering from the last game that they played”, Pellegrini added.
