An elated Jürgen Klopp claimed that Liverpool had put themselves back on the map of world football with their hugely convincing victory against Bayern Munich in Germany.
Liverpool confirmed there will be four English clubs in the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time since 2009 with a comfortable and clinical defeat of the German champions and Bundesliga leaders. Sadio Mané scored twice in a superb individual display while the equally impressive Virgil van Dijk also scored in Liverpool’s first European away win of the season, and arguably their finest under Klopp. The manager said victory at one of European football’s powerhouses, following on from last season’s appearance in the Champions League final, confirmed Liverpool’s place among the elite in the game.
“Scoring three goals here is massive and a big step for us, a big, big step,” the former Borussia Dortmund manager said. “We will see what we can do with it but it is a fantastic sign. We set a mark for LFC tonight that we are back on the international landscape as a football club. I am really happy about the result and the fact that we are through. I knew we had a chance but I didn’t expect it would happen, but the boys made it happen and it was really brilliant.
“This is important for where we want to get to. There are some places in world football that whatever team comes here – Manchester City, Real Madrid, Barcelona – they wouldn’t expect to win it. They know it’s a tough place to come. This club always has outstandingly strong football teams but we kept them away from our goal as well as possible. There were not too many difficult situations in and around our box and that is a massive sign.
“It is not about playing free-flowing football because that is not possible against a side of this quality, you have to find different ways and we found them. That makes me really proud and happy because I think this club deserves recognition and awareness again. We are back – that’s good, we have a lot to learn but we are back. We are back. There is no doubt we are back again.”
Liverpool suffered an early setback when the captain, Jordan Henderson, limped off with an ankle injury that is set to rule him out of the Premier League trip to Fulham on Sunday. Andy Robertson also picked up a booking in stoppage time that means he will miss the first leg of the quarter-finals but they were the only blemishes on an otherwise impeccable night for Klopp’s team.
He said: “I see it like all the boys see it in dressing room and everybody who sees it with us, it is a big night. The only shadow is Hendo twisting his ankle, but it is Hendo so hopefully not too serious. It is always a bad sign when you have to change early, you don’t want that in the middle of the park. We wanted fresh legs, not to rest Fabinho but to bring in fresh legs. We wanted to play more football than we did in first half, and we changed and did that in the second half much better.
“In the first half we scored an outstanding goal – wow – and by half-time time everybody knew it would not be easy for Munich, and that is important information for the opponent after they were happy with a 0-0 at Anfield. You have to try and impress the other team and we did that. I was really happy with how strong the second half was, how mature it was, how much football we played. Bayern has so much quality, unbelievable, and we impressed them and that’s a massive thing.”
Klopp insisted he took no extra satisfaction from Liverpool’s victory in eliminating his former Bundesliga rivals from the Champions League. “I am not like this. It’s not sweeter for me because it’s Bayern. It doesn’t bring back better results from the time when we lost. I wanted to win for Liverpool, not to beat Bayern. It’s just a good moment for Liverpool and let’s enjoy that.”