MY ACCOUNT
Jurgen Klopp has revealed he expected nothing less than the stern examination Liverpool were given en route to a 3-1 win at Benfica.
The Reds took control of the sides’ Champions League quarter-final tie with victory in Portugal but the game was far less comfortable than the scoreline perhaps suggests.
The hosts created a string of chances after Darwin Nunez had halved the deficit early in the second period and were somewhat unfortunate to concede a potentially decisive Luis Diaz goal late on.
However, the challenge posed by Benfica certainly did not surprise Reds boss Klopp, who said: “In the end, coming here in an away game in the Champions League is tough. Obviously, Benfica fought for their lives.
“We opened the door a little bit too much but they deserved the goal as well, even when we could have defended probably better. It’s not that had absolutely no situations before.
“It was a tough game, what I expected, especially when they scored the crowd was there immediately. We knew it, we always know it, 2-0 is nothing, it’s nice but not more.
“They scored the goal and it was much more open than we wanted but, in the end, we should have scored [more] in the first half, could have scored in the second.
“They played a really good game but the goalie was anyway the best player, he made a couple of really good saves. That’s it, we won it, two goals up, half-time, not more, not less, let’s keep going.”
Let’s make this advantage count
Klopp went on to provide a positive update on midfielder Fabinho, who was involved in a nasty clash of heads with Nicolas Otamendi in the final minutes of normal time.
He added: “Fabinho has a little cut – he’s fine. It is a cut in the back of his head. It will need a bit of time but he should be fine.”
The German also refused to get overly excited about Liverpool’s chances of progression to the semi-finals, insisting Benfica will remain dangerous at Anfield.
He continued: “It’s half-time, we have a much better result than before, we know much more about the opponent.
“They will go for it again, they won at Ajax and ground out all the results they needed in the group stage.
“We are aware of the quality and now we have a nice game in between [against Manchester City] but then we will be ready again for Benfica.”
