Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has fired a warning to Chelsea that FA Cup glory would be ‘massive’ for him and his side. Both sides have already reached the last four of the competition and will tackle their semi-final opponents this coming weekend at Wembley Stadium.
The Merseysiders are set to take on Premier League title rivals Manchester City, whilst Chelsea are scheduled to play Crystal Palace. Whilst there are no guarantees at all of either the Blues or the Reds to feature in the final - and indeed a replay of the Carabao Cup final of earlier this season - Klopp has already laid down a marker to the rest of the semi-finalists on the importance of the competition.
Speaking to the Emirates FA Cup Twitter account, the German said: "For most of the teams, it is the biggest thing you can achieve. You have no chance to become [Premier League] champions, most of the teams. It’s difficult to get to a European Cup final, if it’s Europa League or Champions League - for most teams, impossible.
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"But a cup? There’s a chance. That’s why it’s so important, that’s why it’s so great and the tradition and history behind all these kinds of things, it’s massive and massive for me and always was.
“So far we’ve never made it that close, but now somebody has put the biggest hurdle in front of us [Manchester City]. Now, we have to make sure we can jump over it.”
Whilst Liverpool will be aiming to claim the FA Cup for the first time since the 2005/06 season over the closing couple of months of the season, Chelsea face the task of going one better than they have in each of the last two campaigns. The Blues were at first defeated by Arsenal at Wembley before then falling to defeat to Leicester City last time out - Youri Tielemans' stunning strike proving the difference between the two sides.
With Chelsea set to take on Palace this weekend, they will also be keen to react to their heartbreaking exit in the Champions League at the hands of Real Madrid.
