The Reds guaranteed top spot in Group D by beating AFC Ajax on the previous matchday but wrap up this phase of the competition at Arena Herning on Wednesday evening.
Klopp previewed the game at a press conference this morning and, though the boss intends to select an XI with the wider context of the season in mind, underlined his commitment to claiming three more points.
Read a summary of his chat with the media below…
On whether senior players may not travel and if he’ll name a young line-up…
Our Champions League squad was already very young – we had four, five, six players involved in the squad during the whole campaign so far. And yes, they will travel and then we will make decisions. We have today one session, yesterday we had a session already with players especially who didn’t play in the Wolves game. Today is the one session we have together. And so I have still a few hours to make decisions. I will use the time, analysis is not finalised yet and that will all play a part in my thinking. We will see. You are right, it’s the first time we don’t have to get a result in the last match of the group stage, the first time we are first in the table already. We have to consider the general situation, that’s clear, but we have to consider as well it’s Champions League, we are Liverpool and we want to win the game. All these kind of things will lead in the end to a line-up.
On whether he will be looking to work on things in the game because Liverpool do not require a result on the night…
No different things, but our way – I want to see our way to play. That’s clear, whichever line-up we have. It’s clear for the boys what kind of football we want to play, how intense we want to be, how difficult to play we want to be for the opponent. So there are a lot of things I want to see, but that is pretty much what I want to see in all the games. This game is no different. This game is only one part different and that is we don’t have to win it, because as Liverpool you usually have to win all the games. But we still want to win it, which is the better thing to do. That’s what I want to see, that everybody can see we go there and want to win the football game. It will be difficult because Midtjylland is much better than the table shows. When you make the analysis you see how good they are in the games; they grew in the competition, without getting points but it’s a strong group, so it was difficult for Midtjylland. But I’m sure they will give us a proper fight and we have to be ready for that.
On the objective of reaching 15 points in the group…
Look, that’s another reason – apart from just wanting to win – getting 15 points is another reason. How I said, we will try everything. But we cannot completely forget the situation we are in and the situation we are in means we play after that game, on Sunday; after that game, on Wednesday; after that game, on Saturday. And I forgot now how many days we have in between. I heard now a second ago that in the next 22 days we play again six games. And my boys played in the last 22 days for sure at least six games, if not seven some of them. So, yes, we try everything to be as well prepared as possible.
On how satisfying it is to see young players stepping up this season…
It is. We don’t have to say it any differently, we had some problems injury-wise, that’s clear. We lost top, top, top, top-class players to injuries. But, of course, one door closes and another opens up. That’s how it is. But then you still need the right kids or right players to use the chance, how the boys did it. We can go through all of them. What Rhys Williams did so far in the Champions League is exceptional. What Nat Phillips did when he played in the Premier League was absolutely exceptional. Neco played now two really good games in a row, especially the last one was really good. Curtis plays like he played already 10 years for us. Caoimhin was always a talent, now he got the chance to show that on the big stage and used the opportunity, nice for him. Without them, we would have been lost, to be honest. And thank God, it worked out. The biggest part is obviously that they really are ready for it, they are the biggest reason for it. But Vitor Matos and Pep Lijnders are really close to that group before they join us even. So they were really well prepared. That’s good and that’s why we could use them in the way we use them.
On Divock Origi…
Div is not injured. Obviously we don’t have a lot of players but our offensive options are better than in other areas and so I cannot just bring three strikers or very offensive players into the squad when all the things can happen all over the pitch. Div is in a good shape but was not in the squad in the Premier League last time.
On whether he might look to ‘protect’ Caoimhin Kelleher for this game and bring in Adrian…
Interesting! No, we will see. Line-up-wise I [haven’t] made decisions but usually a goalie you don’t have to change that often and nobody told me anything different [than] that Caoimhin should be ready again. I didn’t think about it, to be honest, but that’s probably a good sign.
On Midtjylland playing with three central defenders when they drew 1-1 at Atalanta BC on the last matchday…
In general I have a lot of respect for Midtjylland, to be honest. We played here and we were slightly lucky to win the game. Yes, they now have one point but good performances, really good performances in the Champions League, were unlucky in the games. That’s how it is with experience in the competition, you learn it the hard way. All of us did it, learned it the hard way. But I think they should be really proud of what they did so far in the Champions League. I know they think in this moment we are a big chance for them, a big name, but they expect us to make some changes and stuff like this. They have a home game, so they can go to four points, which would be a big one. From a financial point of view, winning a game in the Champions League is a big one. But the bad news [for them] from my side is we go there with all we have. We try absolutely everything to win that game, we want to have 15 points. But with all the respect for Midtjylland and they didn’t have to change their system that I think a lot about them, because since Sunday I have nothing else to do than thinking about Midtjylland. It’s not finished yet. We will be there and hopefully we will be prepared.