Liverpool Manager: ‘You can win games but you need a little bit of help from the opponent’
Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp said after his squad’s defeat of Sparta Prague that one needed the help of his or her opponent to win a match.
This was after the Merseyside Reds beat the foreign club 5-1 in the first leg and 6-1 later at home.
Klopp was asked during the post-match interview whether he felt sorry for the totally-crushed opponent. His reply was as follows:
‘Look, I am obviously a coach myself and I spoke now to Brian [Priske]. There is a quality difference.
‘That was clear before the game and it is always like this: if the team with the higher quality shows a good attitude, which we did, then it will be tricky. Where is the chance?
‘A long time in my life I obviously worked for a smaller club – not that Sparta are a small club – but I worked in Germany for a smaller club with Mainz. You can win games but you need a little bit of help from the opponent – we didn’t give any help [tonight].
‘The boys showed a top, top, top attitude and so it was difficult and then we all know how these things can go.
‘It’s now a tough week for Sparta, but my feeling is the way their supporters enjoyed the trip at least and how they behaved at the home game when we were there, which was great, the rest of the season now starts and they can fight for the title.
‘If they deal with it in the right way, which I am not in doubt about, that can help as well.’
By beating the European opponents, Liverpool found their way into the Europa Cup round 8. The Reds already have the Carabao Cup on their shelf.