Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp hopes Anfield atmosphere will be key to beating Villarreal

THERE has been so much said about European nights at Anfield, images of St Etienne, Olympiakos and, most recently, Borussia Dortmund flashed around the world, that the idea Villarreal will be caught on the hop tonight feels outlandish.

Posted Thursday, May 05, 2016 by Express.co.uk

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp hopes Anfield atmosphere will be key to beating Villarreal
Jurgen Klopp hopes Liverpool can use the Anfield atmosphere that saw them beat Borussia Dortmund

Yet it is as much what the deafening din does for Liverpool, as their opponents, which is underpinning Jurgen Klopp's confidence.

Liverpool must overturn a 1-0 deficit, inexplicably handed to their rivals at the death last week, if they are to progress into a 12th European final. No one is contemplating failure.

"I do not know what they know about Anfield," said Klopp. "They scored in the last minute of the game and if you don't celebrate then there's something wrong. It's more about when my colleague [Villarreal coach Marcelino] said after the game that 1-0 was the result he dreamed of.

"If we can create with our game a similar atmosphere as Dortmund, then it will be much more difficult for Villarreal than they imagine in this moment.

"I don't think we are through, I don't think we are halfway or something but I don't think either that we are out of the tournament. It is not that I always expect from now on in difficult games, in close games, wonders from us and the crowd. But I think we all felt together how big the influence is of an outstanding atmosphere.

"How I understand football is to forget everything that went before and not to think about afterwards. Just focus on the match and do whatever you can. Fight for your life if you want."

Much of Klopp's work since he took over back in October has been focused on making sure that is both a threat and a promise but his players will only prevail this evening if handed the right blueprint.

That battleplan will be fine-tuned at a training session this morning at Melwood when Emre Can will discover whether his timely return to fitness is rewarded with a starting role and Daniel Sturridge finds out if he will be asked to be the difference from start of a high-profile match again.

If Klopp has proved himself as someone who applies a glass-half-full kind of attitude to life, then the exception to the rule appears to be Sturridge.

Where the striker is concerned the manager's outlook becomes blurred not by what he does on a football pitch, wreak havoc in the opposition penalty area, but what he is presumed not to do, which is work hard enough.

Logic suggests Liverpool need their most natural goalscorer in the starting line-up, but it was intriguing to hear Klopp talk of "surprising" Villarreal and at the same time as guarding against being too gung-ho.

He was satisfied with how his midfield triumvirate coped in El Madrigal and it was only the aberrations in defence from Alberto Moreno and Kolo Toure in the 92nd minute that allowed Adrian Lopez to score on the counter-attack.

"The situation ahead of this game is everybody may expect that from the first second we need to be on fire and we will press them in their own half," he said. "I don't want to talk too much about what we do because hopefully we can surprise them a little bit, but it is about playing smart.

"A big threat is their counter-attacking game. We played well until a specific point in the game and then we didn't find the target and the player in the box with our crosses often enough.

"We have thought about everything and will be really well prepared for this game."

History, so often the inspiration in these parts, also provides a warning. The last time Liverpool were at this stage of the Europa League they also trailed Spanish opposition 1-0 from the first leg.

Despite levelling matters on aggregate before the interval, they could not see the job through and it was Atletico Madrid, courtesy of Diego Forlan's extra-time strike, who progressed on away goals. That night, even though Anfield roared itself hoarse, Liverpool came up short.

"When people saw Dortmund they said, 'oh my god' and thought we would go out in the quarter-final," added Klopp.

"But we showed it is possible. It is a big opportunity. It is something like a dream. We want to make it through.

"If we play our best we go to the final."

Anfield expects.