Liverpool will not make the same mistake as Barcelona and underestimate Roma at their fortress Stadio Olimpico, Jurgen Klopp has warned his side target a place in the Champions League final.
The five-time champions have a 5-2 lead heading into the second leg of a semi-final overshadowed by security concerns and are favourites to reach their eighth final and first since 2007.
But Roma â who last reached the final in 1984 when they lost on penalties to Liverpool â have not conceded a goal at home in the Champions League this season.
Eusebio Di Francescoâs side beat Chelsea and Barcelona 3-0, with the win over the Spaniards overturning a 4-1 first-leg deficit to put them through to the final four.
Despite conceding two late goals in last weekâs emphatic first-leg win at Anfield, Klopp knows his sideâs destiny is in their hands as they bid to seal their place in the May 26 final in Kiev against Real Madrid.
âAfter the game, people acted as if we lost, but we won 5-2. And after a week people say Roma âonlyâ need to win 3-0, but thatâs quite a result,â Klopp told a press conference in Rome.
âIâm not here to say anything about Barcelona. In that game, Roma were more than ready.
âEverybodyâs telling us that itâs quite difficult and itâs possible but nobody told Barcelona, because nobody imagined it could happen.
âI didnât need a warning but if I did, there it was. Weâre in a much better situation than I would have thought before the game, thatâs the truth.
âFight for our dreamsâ
âWhatever I say, we still have to play, and I really like that fact.
âWe are here to fight for our dreams, thatâs how it is, and we want to go to the final as you can imagine,â the Liverpool boss continued.
âBut that means there is a football game to play and I am really looking forward to it because thatâs what you want. You want to play when it is big stakes for the big things, and that is why we are here. It is a great opportunity.â
Di Francesco insisted his side âwant to try and do something big in a stadium with 70,000 peopleâ.
âThe desire to make another miracle happen must push us all to give that extra something.â
The safety of fans in the Italian capital has overshadowed the build-up, with 3,000 police officers deployed around the city for the match after a Liverpool fan was attacked by hard-core Roma ultras outside the clubâs Anfield stadium last week and left in a coma.
Dutch midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum said that the Liverpool squad had been âdevastatedâ to hear about the condition of the fan, Sean Cox.
âItâs a game and everybody has to be safe and enjoy it,â he said.
Romaâs players showed their support for Cox by wearing shirts bearing the words âForza Seanâ (Come on Sean) during a training session on Tuesday, but the atmosphere in the city remains tense.
AFP
