Dejan Lovren has revealed just how angry his team-mates are, and hungry to show Barca what Liverpool are really all about.
The Reds defender admitted there is real sense of frustration at the 3-0 defeat in the Nou Camp, despite a decent performance – and now there is a real passion to put it right.
And the Croatian insisted anyone dismissing his side’s chances willl serve to merely inspire them.
Asked how he feels at being so completely written off now in the Champions’ League semi, he replied: “It makes me more angry. Angry and hungry to show them we are capable of doing something special at Anfield.
“We have big players and big players should show in big games and I think this is one of those games on Tuesday so I expect one of the biggest games at Anfield.”
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Lovren knows just how tough keeping a clean sheet against a Lionel Messi-inspired Barcelona will be, but he argued passionately that if any club do do it, it is Liverpool.
“This is why we are Liverpool. This is why we are a unique club. When people already said to us ‘They are already done. They will not come through’ we always show the balls to produce the biggest comebacks,” he said.
“It doesn’t look from the result at the moment, because they are 3-0 up, but football is unpredictable – especially in the Champions League at Anfield.”
The defender has also vowed that they will not go into Tuesday night’s return leg at Anfield with a defeated attitude – and he called on all Reds fans to do the same.
Lovren wants a famous European night atmosphere, and he issued a rallying cry to the fans when he said:
“Of course, we will never just accept that we already lost. It is just one game. It will be quite a tough challenge after 3-0 but I remember we did it many times and Liverpool are quite famous for big comebacks.
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“I hope we can do it again but we need big, big support from the fans. This is, I think, the main thing. I hope Mo will be OK now after the knock because it doesn’t look good.
“We showed already many times we can play without Mo and also a couple of other players. But the most important thing is the crowd.
“We did it before against Dortmund, From Dortmund to now we have another 10,000 places more (extra capacity) – so 10,000 fans more – so it will be quite important.
“The most important thing is to score quite early and if we can manage that then everything is possible. It will be a challenge but I believe at Anfield I believe in the supporters, I believe in this team.
“I hope we will have Mo back as he is quite important for us. Let us see what tactics we will have against Barca – we can maybe surprise them.”
