Boss: Anfield is our advantage - not the away goal
The Anfield crowd is a bigger advantage to Liverpool than the away goal Divock Origi bagged at Signal Iduna Park in Liverpool’s encounter with Borussia Dortmund on Thursday night, believes Jürgen Klopp.
The Reds will play host to the in-form Bundesliga side on Merseyside as the teams battle it out for a place in the semi-finals of the Europa League in front of the Kop.
The aggregate scoreline in the tie currently stands at 1-1 following last week’s initial meeting in Germany, when Origi pounced to net to give Klopp’s men a slight edge in the tie.
However, the manager feels that effort won’t ultimately prove decisive – but insists the decibel levels generated by the Anfield crowd could be.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference at Melwood, Klopp said: “[The away goal] makes a big difference if your result in the second game is useful too!
“I think you can ignore the first game. Everybody who saw Dortmund in the last few months know that this team can score goals everywhere in the world - that's not a real issue.
“But of course, this not a game - and Dortmund are not an opponent - where you can go into it and say 'let's try to keep a clean sheet, we don't have to score and hope maybe somebody can help you in the offense' - that's not how it works.
“At the end, maybe after 85 minutes or 89 minutes it will be relevant but not earlier.
“It's a completely normal game, it's an open game. The crowd is more of an advantage if we are good. If the crowd likes the game then it will help us and will be more of an advantage than the goal in Dortmund - that's how it is.
“If we win we don't need it [the away goal] and if we lose it doesn't help us, so it's pretty easy. It's not too important. For the game in Dortmund it was important but this is a new start and we know about the qualities of Dortmund. We knew before the game, we knew it after the first leg. Now they know a little bit more about our qualities.
“We will see who handles the situation a little bit better - who is clearer in most of the offensive actions and who is more disciplined in defence [and] who is brave enough to take the chance. Maybe [there] will be only a few chances in the game because both teams are really good organised.
“Everything can happen but, in my opinion, the atmosphere can be the biggest difference.”