Klopp: I am greedy for success at Liverpool
Jürgen Klopp has spoken of his hunger and desire to bring success back to Liverpool.
As the Reds get ready to face Manchester City in the Capital One Cup final at Wembley on Sunday, the manager is desperate to bring silverware back to the famous Anfield trophy cabinet.
Liverpool are eyeing what would be a record ninth League Cup, and Klopp insists his players are ready to give everything they have got to try and make that happen.
Speaking with the Liverpool Echo, Klopp said: “I am long enough in the business to know I am greedy for success.
“For sure we will go to the final and try and achieve this. It is more important for the club, the crowd and the players.
“Lots of managers work their whole life and never get the chance to win trophies. After a short time we have that chance.
“Of course I would enjoy it with all I have. Everybody will give their all.
“Clubs with a big history like Liverpool, it is always the same problem if they are not successful in the present. With the right decisions and then the right patience you can get back on track.
“With all the big clubs around with a lot of money, we should not go the same way, we have to go our way, how Liverpool always did.
“This win would help. It would help to win the Capital One Cup but it is not the only possibility for everyone to believe in this way.”
With a Europa League Round of 16 clash with Manchester United on the horizon as well as precious points to play for in the Barclays Premier League, Klopp insists there is still a lot that Liverpool can achieve this season.
He added: “If we win it and at the end we are ninth in the league because we didn’t play well then I can’t think ‘but we won the Capital One Cup’. That is too long ago.
“We still have a few things to do. We can go in the last eight of the Europa League. Why should I think about eighth or ninth? I think we can still get fifth, can’t we?
“We have now the chance to win the final. We can beat Man City in the league at home and we can beat Crystal Palace. That is all possible.
“We take what we can get, we take the information, take the performances and think about it and say ‘we can go on like this or we need to change this’. Take what you can get when you’re there. Beat them when you meet them.”
Klopp is making his first visit to Wembley since taking Borussia Dortmund to the national stadium when they faced Bayern Munich in the 2013 Champions League final.
Dortmund were classified as underdogs on the day, and there are parallels this time around with Manchester City seen by many observers as favourites going into Sunday’s game.
However, Klopp points to Denmark’s famous victory in the 1992 European Championship as a sign that any team on the day of a final can win.
He said: “Sometimes it is the quality of one player who decides the game, but it is more about the performance of the whole team. If you look at big titles in the past, Denmark were European champions (in 1992). That is the best title I ever heard about.
“They met each other at McDonalds then they heard they had to go to the European Championships and they won the title. That is cool. Greece too. It is not always the best team that should win. Everybody can win if you have the right idea and if you are full of trust.
“Man City are a great team and we will have to give more than a good performance. We have to create the right plan. We have to run maybe more than Man City will run. We have to close the right spaces. We have to keep our nerve, use the pressure and set the level of intensity. If we do that then we can win and they know that.
“The most important thing to win the final. I don’t care how. I care how before the game, but after if we win with a lot of luck 1-0 I wouldn’t care.”