Liverpool’s famed Barcelona comeback inspired Luton win – Klopp،
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says their stunning Champions League comeback against Barcelona in 2019 inspired his injured side to beat Luton Town at Anfield on Wednesday.
Klopp said he promised his team a few months ago that he would never use the memorable semi-final match as an example, where, despite missing key players including Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino, Liverpool staged a sensational fightback to beat Barcelona 4-0 and 4-3. overall.
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“Tonight I broke my promise,” Klopp said with a laugh.
“The game was quite similar, a lot of players were missing,” added Klopp. “The team that night ignored the fact that was missing, and I wanted us to ignore the fact that was missing.”
While the stakes may not have been as high, Wednesday's match had a certain resemblance as his depleted side scored four goals to beat Luton 4-1 and stay on course at the top of the Premier League table.
Liverpool have been hit by recent injuries to key players, and those missing on Wednesday included Salah, Darwin Núñez, Diogo Jota, Curtis Jones, Dominik Szoboszlai, Trent Alexander-Arnold and goalkeeper Alisson Becker.
As a result, Liverpool fielded their youngest starting team – 25 years and 68 days – for a Premier League match in five years.
Virgil van Dijk, Cody Gakpo, Luis Díaz and Harvey Elliott scored.
“What this place, with a group of fantastic footballers, is able to create is so special, oh my God,” Klopp said. “In the second half we were undeniable, huh?”
“I needed a few minutes to process it when I received all the information [pre-game injury] news,” he added. “But as long as you know how you can deal with it, how we can solve it for this game now, it feels really good. And that's what I wanted the boys to show. »
“I’m so happy with the performance,” Klopp said. “I'm so happy, for so many things we saw tonight. Before the game, no one knew how the boys were going to face this challenge and because it is a challenge.”
Klopp praised Luton, who sit 18th in the table in their first season in the Premier League.
“I said before the game, I said after the game, Rob's job [Edwards, Luton’s manager] what he does is absolutely exceptional.”
