Jurgen Klopp was keen to remind Mohamed Salah of his priorities after the Egyptian picked up the PFA Player of the Year award on Sunday evening.
Thanks to their progress in the Champions League, Liverpool will now enjoy their biggest game of the season against Roma — Salah’s former club — in the semi-finals at Anfield this week, and Klopp is keen to keep his players focused.
“It was a fantastic ride so far, but you know we have still a few yards to go,” said the German in a congratulatory message to Salah.
“It is really rare in football that you win as an individual, an individual trophy, because it is a team game. But in this, the team lives from personalities, from characters, from players.
“And now, please grab the trophy and come home - we play on Tuesday! See you then.”
The Liverpool manager was annoyed following his side’s late collapse against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, when they surrendered a two goal lead against a team who are rooted to the bottom of the table.
Klopp has regularly spoken of keeping his players angry and hungry for success, and rather than act as a morale killer, the West Brom game may just have been the setback he needed to give his players one last kick into angry action.
In his pre-match press conference he spoke of the importance of recreating the atmosphere his side experienced at Anfield against Manchester City, but also urged the fans to respect the opposition.
“If we can do what we did, creating an atmosphere in front of the stadium then do it, but please show [Roma] the respect they deserve.
“The good thing is at Liverpool I don’t have to tell the people what I want to see. They are more experienced in these situations than we are. They create the most special atmosphere in world football.”
Klopp also believes Salah could be in for a rough time at the hands of his former club’s defence, but stated that his forward has the quality to make his own mark on the game.
“It’s quite special as you know more about the other team than usual, and you are more concerned with the other team than usual.
"Italian defenders are famous for not having friendly games, and Mo will feel early in the game that they are not his team-mates anymore, but then he can strike back.”
When asked if there were any similarities between himself and Eusebio Di Francesco and the two sides Klopp quipped: “We both wear glasses and have a bad shave,” before going on to add:
“Style of play: I don’t want to talk too much about that, but obviously they love football. Good football playing side with good organisation. Maybe there are a few similarities, but that doesn’t make life easier for him or me tomorrow.
“We both have the chance to go to the final, and that’s all I need, we don’t need anything else. It’s possible, and that’s nice.”
Jordan Henderson, speaking at the press conference after Klopp, revealed that Kevin De Bruyne was his choice for Player of the Year: “obviously, because I couldn’t vote for Mo,” he said.
The Liverpool captain went on to discuss what he expects from the game.
“They will ask different questions, but there are a lot of good sides in Europe this season who have asked questions of us, and we’ve answered them so far.
“They are a strong side, we need to be ready and keep doing what we’ve been doing well: playing at a high intensity, creating chances, and scoring goals.”
Team News
Joel Matip is out for the season, and other long-term absentees Adam Lallana and Emre Can will also miss out.
Nathaniel Clyne remains doubtful with the muscle injury he picked up prior to the West Brom game, but Liverpool have no further injury worries heading into this game.
Predicted Lineup: Karius; Alexander-Arnold, Lovren, Van Dijk, Robertson; Henderson, Milner, Oxlade-Chamberlain; Salah, Firmino, Mane.
Prediction
The Anfield effect should be enough for Liverpool to take a first-leg lead, but they could find Roma more difficult to break down than Manchester City were in the previous round.
Roma will surprise those in England who thought this was the easy draw for the remaining Premier League side, but any visiting team would be in for a tough night at Anfield. Liverpool 2, Roma 1
