‘It’ll be intense, high-tempo, a massive occasion’
Doing battle with Manchester City for a place in the Champions League semi-finals is a prospect that excites Andy Robertson.
“I think you see the way the two teams play, it’s going to be intense, it’s going to be a high-tempo game,” the Reds left-back told Liverpoolfc.com ahead of Wednesday’s last-eight first leg.
“Whether Man City are better than us on the night or whether we’re better than them on the night, that’ll still be there, the high tempo. It might come down to one mistake or whatever and we just hope it’s not us.”
Pep Guardiola’s City have visited Anfield once already this season, of course. That Premier League fixture in January produced seven goals and, ultimately, a thrilling 4-3 win for the hosts.
Unsurprisingly, Robertson is targeting another impressive display this time around, which he feels would give Liverpool the opportunity to earn a positive result ahead of next Tuesday’s second leg in Manchester.
“Our concentration levels have to be 100 per cent and hopefully if we can put in a similar performance and get the better of them and take our chances like we did at crucial moments, then hopefully we can have a win going into the Etihad because it’s always better to have something to protect,” the Scotland international said.
Relive the best bits of LFC 4-3 MCFC
Liverpool may be the only team to have beaten City in the Premier League so far this season, but Robertson has nothing but respect for the quality of Guardiola’s champions-elect.
“I think it will be such a hard game. It’s the quarter-finals of the Champions League and I think if we’d have got any of the teams it was never going to be easy,” the 24-year-old continued.
“It doesn’t get much harder than Man City, arguably one of the best teams in Europe just now.
“But we managed to get the better of them at Anfield a couple of months ago and if we can take anything out of that performance then we managed to show their weaknesses, especially in that 10 minutes when we scored three goals.
“But they also showed our weaknesses by scoring three goals, which obviously we weren’t happy with and in a two-legged tie that might not have been good enough.
“We look forward to it, it’ll be a massive occasion. The fans will be loud as usual and I’m sure they’ll try to make it hostile for Man City and hopefully give us a lift from it.
“If we can do that then we’ll just look to put in a good performance and hopefully get a good result to take to the Etihad in the following week.”
Stats: LFC v MCFC in this season's Champions League
Both teams placed an emphasis on attack during January’s league meeting at Anfield, and Robertson expects their respective approaches to be comparable this time around.
“I don’t think you can really comment on that until the actual game because we don’t know how they will set up,” he explained.
“Obviously they have the advantage of having the second leg at home so they might change it, but I think Man City have got a way of playing and they’ve not changed it in any Premier League game so far.
“They came to Anfield and played the exact same, they’ve went to Old Trafford and played the exact same when maybe people thought they would go a bit more defensive-minded and they’ve not done it, so we need to prepare for everything. We know the way we’ll play and hopefully that’s enough on the night.”
Wednesday’s game is sure to be played out amid a partisan atmosphere at Anfield - and that is something Robertson and his teammates are relishing.
“Anfield’s a special place as it is on a normal game but I think the fans really take to the Champions League and the atmosphere they have is magnificent, really,” he continued.
“The last home game they went to we were 5-0 up [v Watford], it was a sell-out and they still made a lot of noise, but I think this one will be on a whole new level and I think all the boys are looking forward to it.”