As Klopp pointed out afterward, he has already reached two finals with Liverpool: the League Cup and the Europa League in his first, partial season in 2016. Liverpool did not even make the Champions League automatically; it had to endure a qualifier with Hoffenheim. This campaign is only its second in the Champions League since 2009; it has spent much of the intervening period trying to keep pace with the Premier League’s elite; Europe’s seemed beyond reach. No team has ever scored more goals in a Champions League campaign than Liverpool. Defend like this against Real Madrid and it will most certainly be Real claiming a 13th European Cup in Kiev, not Liverpool lifting its sixth.

Source: New York Times May 02, 2018 21:16 UTC