The semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League are upon us and the only English representative this season is Liverpool FC, not Manchester City. The Reds disposed of the Premier League champions-elect in the quarters in quite honestly, convincing fashion. The Merseyside club deserves to be in the last four as they’re the highest scoring team in the whole tournament.
Jurgen Klopp’s men will face Roma in the semi-finals, meaning they’ve luckily avoided two heavyweights in Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. Liverpool was drawn before their counterparts Roma, meaning the first leg will be played at Anfield on the 24th of April. The second leg in Rome will take place on the 2nd of May.
Roma was the team the other three wanted to draw, but that doesn’t mean this will be easy for the Reds. Lest we forget, Roma is the same team that dumped out Barcelona in the quarters. Regardless, Liverpool needs to make this their year.
Here’s why Liverpool should go all out for the UEFA Champions League.
If their fans hadn’t had already reminded you 500 times, Liverpool is 5-time European champions. In fact, they’re the most successful English club in Europe ever, and there’s a firm belief that Jurgen Klopp can take this current crop of players to the summit of Europe. Led by Mohammed Salah, not Philippe Coutinho, Liverpool is capable of beating any team on any given day.
When you have players like Mohammed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane, there is no limit to what the Reds could achieve. Between them, the trio has scored 75 goals in the Premier League and Champions League. Having such firepower in your ranks deserves more than a 3rd place finish in the Premier League, it’s worthy of a Champions League title. If not, then the Reds will be branded as all hype and no substance.
Although Liverpool are the first club to beat a Pep Guardiola team three times in one season and they knocked Manchester City out 5-1 on aggregate, the Reds still 17 points behind the Sky Blues in the league. That’s a ginormous gap that suggests the Reds have underperformed this season.
From a selfish perspective, Jurgen Klopp needs to win the Champions League to break his unfortunate duck. The German coach has lost five consecutive finals consisting of finals with both Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund. He’s lost a Europa League and Carabao Cup final with Liverpool and two German Cup finals and coincidently, a Champions League final with Borussia Dortmund.
The only successful cup final the 50-year-old has to his name is the 2011/12 German Cup with Dortmund. Jurgen Klopp is too good of a coach to always be falling at the last hurdle, and this year must be HIS year.
Liverpool winning the Champions League would help spur them on to more consistent success next season. This Liverpool team are capable of great things, and this is the perfect launchpad to take them to that next level of competing with Manchester City for next year’s four-way race.
