The Peninsula
Liverpool – arguably the best side in the world – begin hunt for their maiden FIFA Club World Cup title as they take on an in-form Monterrey in the second semi-final in Doha today.
The runaway Premier League leaders boast the world’s best players including feared striker Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk – considered the best centre-back at the moment.
The FIFA Club World Cup is one of the few trophies not in the Anfield cabinet, which may be the reason why manager Jurgen Klopp is travelling to Doha with the full senior side, while their second string side faced Aston Villa in the quarter-final of Carabao Cup last evening.
The Reds, who are competing at the World Cup for being the European champions, will be hot favourites for today’s semi-final at the Khalifa International Stadium, which kicks off at 8:30pm. But, Klopp rebuffed the notion
“I am not sure about [that], we were the “best football team in the world” in the summer, the last game or whatever – it is only important what we will be tomorrow night,” Klopp told a crowded press conference, yesterday.
“We are ready to work hard tomorrow night, we will make sure we find a line-up to work hard. We respect the opponent a lot,” said the manager, whose team has a clear 10-point lead midway to the Premier League season.
Monterrey booked the Liverpool clash following a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Qatar’s Al Sadd, and Klopp is impressed with the Mexican side.
“They (Monterrey) are in a pretty good moment. They have a specific way of playing, good players, technically good players. I don’t want to talk too much about tactical stuff because that’s the thing we try either way to do or to avoid,” said Klopp.
Prior to the Doha departure, the Reds manager showed his concern about the pitch because of rain in the Qatari capital but after a training session on Sunday he gave the thumbs up.
“We spoke to our grounds man yesterday who was here and he said it is in a really, really good condition. The training ground yesterday was brilliant, absolutely brilliant,” he said before praising football infrastructure in Qatar.
“Obviously the pitches are brilliant and should not be a proper concern. When we arrived on Sunday night it was raining hard, which would be difficult for each pitch, but our grounds man said it is unbelievable, built on sand, which is good in this case, so it will suck all the water off. The pitch will hopefully be no concern,” said Klopp.
Dijk missed Liverpool’s training yesterday but Klopp said the centre-half has no injury concern.
“Virgil is fine. We had to do different stuff for recovery for different people, so that was the reason why he was not involved yesterday in the session.”
Accompanying his boss, seasoned midfielder James Milner said his team will look to continue good form in Doha.
“We have been in good form and we want to continue that. If it’s a distraction with a chance to win a trophy, that’s a pretty good distraction to have. We just want to keep being successful and winning trophies; you have to be successful to be at this tournament so hopefully we can go out there and play like we have been and win the two games,” said Milner.
Monterrey will start as dark horse but their coach Antonio Mohamed insisted his CONCACAF Champions League winners have the potential to pull an upset against Liverpool today.
“We have a big ambition to play against Liverpool and we came to compete strongly at this mega-tournament,” Mohamed said earlier yesterday at the pre-match press conference.
“Jurgen Klopp is one of the best managers and Liverpool is maybe the best team in the world right now. We have made a huge effort to reach this stage and have come to compete irrespective of which team or manager we are facing.
“We came here to play and win the match with our weapons. We didn’t come to participate in this tournament and let Liverpool win against us. Nothing is impossible in football,” he said.
Defender Nicolas Sanchez sent a warning to Liverpool ahead of today’s clash.
“We don’t fear anybody,” he said.
“It will be a distinct match to play against such a strong team, a once in a lifetime opportunity perhaps to play against such a team. It’s a great opportunity to take part in this tournament and have ambition to do something.
“We will enter the pitch to win, we are not here just to participate, and we have exhibited over the last weeks – especially in Mexican league and qualification round – we have played very good matches and tomorrow we will do our best to represent our city and country in the best way possible.”