Manager of Premier League club Liverpool Jurgen Klopp has explained why he believes that the Reds are not favourites to win the Champions League.
“Juventus were my favourites before the season started but obviously I don’t watch Italian football enough because I cannot work out why they are not 10 points ahead, at the top of Serie A,” Klopp said, as quoted by The Guardian. “They have the biggest squad I have ever seen in my life; quality players too, it’s crazy.
The Reds' manager has also added that there are other strong teams that may outperform Liverpool, including Bayern Munich, PSG, and Barcelona, and while many believe that Liverpool is the strongest team in the competition, Klopp is not as optimistic.
“I have no clue if we can win the Champions League again but we should be ready to go for it,” he said. “What I know and what we showed last year is that we can beat the best. It doesn’t mean we will, it just means we can, and that is the only thing I have to know. There are so many strong teams out there, you have to be ready for the fight, then it’s about luck in certain moments to win anything. In the end the quality within a squad is not always the biggest difference; it’s more about who can find the right mood, show the most desire, be decisive in the right moment. And luck. To win anything you will need that for sure,” Klopp said.
In the match of the 26th round of the English Premier League, Norwich City will host Liverpool on 15 February, and many bookmakers consider the guests to be a clear favourite.
Despite its depressing position in the table, Norwich does not look completely hopeless: it lost only one of 13 previous matches in the Premier League with a difference of more than one goal.
