Hopefully Jurgen Klopp still has free cancellation on that hotel in Istanbul.
Any Liverpool fans who blindly followed his instructions in May 2022 will be desperately looking up terms and conditions right about now.
That’s because the Reds look incredibly unlikely to deliver their manager’s bold prediction of an appearance in this year’s Champions League final.
Real Madrid were their tormentors once again as the LaLiga giants came back from 2-0 down after 14 minutes to lead by three with 20 minutes remaining in a 5-2 win at Anfield on Tuesday.
Liverpool are well-adjusted to misery at the hands of Madrid, having lost the 2018 and 2022 Champions League finals to Los Blancos.
But speaking after last year’s defeat, Klopp was in a defiant mood.
“I have a strong feeling we will come again,” he said.
“The boys are competitive. We will have an outstanding group next season.
“Where’s it next season? Istanbul? Book the hotel.”
Oops. Of course, any Champions League historian knows that discounting the Reds is a silly thing to do.
They overturned a three-goal deficit in seven minutes in the final against AC Milan in 2005.
Barcelona famously took a 3-0 lead to Anfield in 2019, only to get thumped 4-0 in the second leg.
There is undeniably something about Liverpool and trailing by three goals in Europe but Klopp admits avoiding defeat in this last-16 tie requires a different scale of miracle ahead of next month’s trip to the Bernabeu.
And even the never-say-die German lacks hope his team will honour that hotel booking in three months’ time.
“I think Carlo [Ancelotti] thinks the tie is over and I think it as well at the moment,” Klopp said after the game.
“But in three weeks… that’s how it is in these moments, the closer you get to the game, the bigger our chances become and the less likely it is that the tie is over.
“Tonight when you see the game they are pretty good at counter-attacking and we have to score three goals. So to take some risk that could be tricky.
“But it’s really not in my mind… we will try to win the game. If that’s possible or not I don’t know now but that’s what we’ll try and from there we will see.”
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