Jurgen Klopp says reaching his fourth Champions League final as a manager felt almost like a new experience as his Liverpool side came back from two goals down against Villarreal to secure a 5-2 aggregate win in their semi-final.
Liverpool, which was leading 2-0 from the first leg in England last week, was rocked by two first-half goals from the Spanish side on Tuesday night, local time.
However, three second-half strikes secured the Redsâ spot in a third Champions League final in five seasons under the German.
âIt feels like the first in 20 (years),â Klopp, who led Borussia Dortmund to the final of the competition in 2013, told BT Sport.
âItâs outstanding, because we obviously made it a little tricky for ourselves, but we knew these kind of things could happen.â
Never ever take nights like this for granted!! See you in Paris REDS â¤ď¸â¤ď¸â¤ď¸ #YNWA pic.twitter.com/xHSFOIH0z0
â Andy Robertson (@andrewrobertso5) May 3, 2022
Klopp joins Miguel Munoz, Sir Alex Ferguson, Carlo Ancelotti and Marcello Lippi as the only managers to lead their teams to the final of Europeâs top club competition on four occasions.
Liverpool heads to the final in Paris to face either Real Madrid or Manchester City, who play their second leg in Madrid on Wednesday with City holding a slender 4-3 lead on aggregate.
The Merseysiders were shocked by Villarrealâs aggressive man-marking in the first half which took them out of their own pressing game, and the coach conceded that he struggled to find highlights from the opening 45 minutes to show his players.
Villarreal CF would like to congratulate @LFC for reaching the @ChampionsLeague final.
Good luck in the future Reds, you're a fantastic team.#UCL pic.twitter.com/1VFSfhAdLB
â Villarreal CF English (@VillarrealCFen) May 3, 2022
âWe knew what was wrong because it was obvious, but we didnât have a situation to show them where we got it right,â Klopp explained.
âI said (to my staff) âfind one where we do it well and we can show itâ, and we come in and they said âno, we donât have itâ.â
The introduction of Colombian winger Luis Diaz at the break seemed to liven up Liverpoolâs attack as Fabinho, Diaz and Sadio Mane scored the goals that got them into the final.
âObviously Luis, what a player he is, but itâs not about who came on, it was about how we started to play,â Klopp added.
The 54-year-old said he had no preference for who his team would face in the final on May 28, saying âwhoever it will be, it will be massiveâ.
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