Jurgen Klopp has told Benfica they should "go for it, full throttle" if they want to overturn their Champions League deficit against Liverpool.
The Portuguese side head to Anfield looking to recover from a 3-1 first-leg reverse last week. Ibrahima Konate, Sadio Mane and Luis Diaz all scored in the Estadio Da Luz to hand the Reds a notable advantage in their last eight clash, and they are heavy favourites to make the last four.
Benfica have enjoyed success at Anfield in the past, winning 2-0 back in 2006. However, they are seen as huge underdogs ahead of Wednesday night's second leg, but Klopp claims he would go out all guns blazing looking to get an early goal if he were the one masterminded the Benfica comeback.
When quizzed on the approach of his opponents, Klopp responded: "I don't know, but what I know is what I would do: I would go for it, full throttle. I would go for it, put us under pressure, try to score early, if not, try to score a bit later. That's what you do and that's what we expect. Benfica respected us before, how we respected them before the game.
"But during the game, I'm pretty sure Benfica felt, 'OK, here and there, it was quite good, we were close.' But now, bad news for Benfica – it's Anfield. It's Anfield and they don't only play against us, they play against the whole crowd. It's cool in a specific way but we hope we can use that. I said it a couple of times, we want to be the one team nobody wants to play against, that's what we want to be. And hopefully we can be that tomorrow night."
Liverpool did lose their last European clash at Anfield with Inter Milan securing a 1-0 success, albeit the Italians still lost 2-1 on aggregate. Klopp's outfit are aiming to wrestle back the Champions League crown they won in 2019 as they eye a unique quadruple this term.
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The German is under no illusion of the size of the task that still lies ahead. He has again praised his team's effort, claiming they looked even better upon reflection. He said: "We have to be on top of the game. We were good at Benfica, I liked the game. In a lot of parts I liked it a lot, even when I did the analysis it looked better than it did live, to be honest."
Klopp has also referenced the shift in momentum that comes with a single goal, citing the Inter defeat as an example. He said: "If we play and it is 3-1 at half-time, that's as tricky as 2-0. Yes, it's a good basis, [but] if they score one – and we felt it against Inter – it is a game-changer. We felt it there when we were in control of the game until Benfica scored and then all of a sudden it looked slightly different."
