Liverpool news: Jurgen Klopp desperate for Champions League redemption

It was what was happening in Lisbon while he was in Las Vegas. The 2014 Champions League final.

Twelve months earlier, his Borussia Dortmund had been in the final. They had been beaten by Arjen Robben’s 89th-minute winner for Bayern Munich. A year on, the pain remained.

“I remember when Real Madrid played Atletico,” Klopp recalled.

“I was in Vegas, on holiday by the pool and a lot of people were watching it. I couldn’t. I was kind of annoyed hearing the noise. I had no clue who had scored or nothing about the game. 

“I really tried to ignore it because it hurt. It was still painful what had happened the year before. We are all human beings. It is not nice.

“That was the last time when I really suffered. That is absolutely okay. If something is really important for you, you have to be ready for suffering.”

Klopp won’t be back in ‘Sin City’ for the 2018 Champions League final. He will be in Kiev on Saturday, ready for more suffering, 90 minutes from unlikely glory again, trying to upset the odds once more.

It was Real who won that 2014 final, Real who had knocked out his Dortmund in the last eight, Real who stand in Liverpool’s way now, Real who could become the first team since Bayern Munich in 1976 to conquer Europe three years in a row.

“This has been the Real Madrid Champions League generation,” Klopp added. “A lot of their players won the last two finals and that's really rare.

"We are in the situation where there have been three dominant clubs in the last few years: Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern. A few others showed up but there are those three, and we face one of them in the final. 

“I have no problem with the situation, it’s not that I want to be the underdog and I don’t feel like an underdog. We are Liverpool and we like that. But they are favourites.”

Klopp is fine with that. He approaches his task with humour and honesty, perspective and positivity. A religious man will not pray for victory. “I really think God has something more important to do than watch football matches,” he smiled.

His past is no problem. Liverpool’s history is an inspiration. “There’s nothing we cannot talk about before the Champions League final,” Klopp insisted. “The finals we lost, I lost: no problem.” 

He harks back to 2005, to a comeback that gladdened a manager who relishes the unpredictability of football and likes proof that there is no such thing as a lost cause to a team with spirit. 

To the miracle of Istanbul. To Liverpool’s fifth European Cup.

“Liverpool were, I’m sorry, absolutely not favourites,” Klopp added. 

“It was fantastic. The best team in the world at that moment were probably AC Milan. Liverpool were completely the underdog in that game, 3-0 down. 

“That’s history. If you are 3-0 down in a final, you can do it. That’s the message. I have no problem with somebody mentioning 2005. That’s a fantastic thing.”

Liverpool scored three goals in six minutes in the 2005 final. Klopp’s side got three in 19 in the quarter-final against Manchester City and five in 34 in the semi-final against Roma. 

They are the Champions League’s top scorers. They will not be intimidated. They will attack Real.

Klopp explained: “If I was to ask the boys now, 'what do you want to do in this game?,’ they would say 'what we always did'.” 

“And Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah have always scored. They both have 10 goals in the Champions League. Only Cristiano Ronaldo, with 15, has more.

“Mo played a fantastic season but Cristiano has played 15 seasons like this,” said Klopp. “He has scored something like 47,000 goals - crazy numbers.”  

Klopp compared deadly wingers with 87 goals between them this season. “Having both in the same team wouldn't be bad,” he grinned. 

“But then in the moment I wouldn't change Sadio.” 

Sadio Mane’s place is safe. But Liverpool need to stop Ronaldo if Klopp is to enjoy his summer holiday. And not just this year’s holiday.