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Liverpool’s penultimate match before competitive football begins in earnest presents them with arguably their greatest test of the summer, as meet Barcelona in their final International Champions Cup match at Wembley Stadium – and manager Jurgen Klopp refuses to treat the match lightly.
The US leg of the Reds’ ICC fixtures saw them suffer a narrow loss to Chelsea before overcoming Milan 2-0.
“My expectations for pre-season are really high. I wanted to do it perfectly but it wasn’t because of a few little injuries,” the former Dortmund coach admitted.
“We came back, trained here and now we have to fight back.”
Many of the physical niggles that the boss has lamented have started to clear. Joel Matip has been in training for three days and could play one of the games this weekend, while Marko Grujic is also in contention after shaking off the concussion sustained against Chelsea. Lucas, however, is still sidelined.
An intense weekend lies ahead for Liverpool, who will face Mainz on Sunday – 24 hours after playing Barca. Klopp is likely to use two distinct starting XIs, with the team that faces Barca likely to be similar to the one that will play Arsenal in the Premier League opener next week.
“We have two games to play,” he continued. “This is how pre-season is. We created this situation in our planning, now we have to go through with it.”
Preparations have been compromised by Euro 2016, but the German is of the opinion that this is something that they simply need to cope with.
“The players who came back from the Euros were in a different physical situation. We have to accept it,” he said.
“For a few players pre-season will go into the Premier League - but we have to do it.”
The US leg of the Reds’ ICC fixtures saw them suffer a narrow loss to Chelsea before overcoming Milan 2-0.
“My expectations for pre-season are really high. I wanted to do it perfectly but it wasn’t because of a few little injuries,” the former Dortmund coach admitted.
“We came back, trained here and now we have to fight back.”
Many of the physical niggles that the boss has lamented have started to clear. Joel Matip has been in training for three days and could play one of the games this weekend, while Marko Grujic is also in contention after shaking off the concussion sustained against Chelsea. Lucas, however, is still sidelined.
An intense weekend lies ahead for Liverpool, who will face Mainz on Sunday – 24 hours after playing Barca. Klopp is likely to use two distinct starting XIs, with the team that faces Barca likely to be similar to the one that will play Arsenal in the Premier League opener next week.
“We have two games to play,” he continued. “This is how pre-season is. We created this situation in our planning, now we have to go through with it.”
Preparations have been compromised by Euro 2016, but the German is of the opinion that this is something that they simply need to cope with.
“The players who came back from the Euros were in a different physical situation. We have to accept it,” he said.
“For a few players pre-season will go into the Premier League - but we have to do it.”
Klopp’s last visit to Wembley as a manage saw him suffer European Cup final heartbreak against Bayern Munich as his thrilling Dortmund side went down to a late Arjen Robben goal.
Despite this near miss, the German is a figure who commands the respect of even Barcelona’s most storied players.
“The work he did in the teams he’s previously coach was very good,” Andres Iniesta said on Friday. “He took Dortmund to the top of European football. He arrived at Liverpool at a difficult moment and was able to steer them in the right direction. He is one of the best coaches of recent times.”
Although the Liga season does not start until August 20, Luis Enrique’s side are close to full capacity and have travelled to England with an almost complete squad of players available to the coach. After this encounter, they have only a home match against Sampdoria left to fine tune the squad, from which summer signings Samuel Umtiti and Andre Gomes – both still holidaying after reaching the final of Euro 2016 with France and Portugal respectively – are absent.
Barca boast a perfect record in this competition to date, despite being without Neymar, who is currently spearheading Brazil’s charge for a first Olympic gold in football. Munir El Haddadi has been their outstanding contributor, scoring once in a 3-1 win over Celtic in Dublin before adding two more in a 4-2 success over English champions Leicester in Stockholm.
Despite this near miss, the German is a figure who commands the respect of even Barcelona’s most storied players.
“The work he did in the teams he’s previously coach was very good,” Andres Iniesta said on Friday. “He took Dortmund to the top of European football. He arrived at Liverpool at a difficult moment and was able to steer them in the right direction. He is one of the best coaches of recent times.”
Although the Liga season does not start until August 20, Luis Enrique’s side are close to full capacity and have travelled to England with an almost complete squad of players available to the coach. After this encounter, they have only a home match against Sampdoria left to fine tune the squad, from which summer signings Samuel Umtiti and Andre Gomes – both still holidaying after reaching the final of Euro 2016 with France and Portugal respectively – are absent.
Barca boast a perfect record in this competition to date, despite being without Neymar, who is currently spearheading Brazil’s charge for a first Olympic gold in football. Munir El Haddadi has been their outstanding contributor, scoring once in a 3-1 win over Celtic in Dublin before adding two more in a 4-2 success over English champions Leicester in Stockholm.
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