Jurgen Klopp claims this Liverpool side is his best ever as boss aims to KO cup finals curse
JURGEN KLOPP claims he is taking his best-ever team into a final to end his cup jinx.
But the Liverpool boss warns that might still not be enough on Saturday night.
Klopp’s cup final record — six defeats in six matches — has Reds fans worried ahead of their Champions League showdown with Tottenham in Madrid.
It also comes a year after they were beaten by Real Madrid in the Kiev showpiece.
Klopp, who reckons both teams will be full of energy after a three-week break, said: “In the final, not always the better team wins.
“Not often the worst team win, but it is possible and you just have to be ready for these situations and be ready to make mistakes.
“It is an important game and the whole world will watch it. Against Sevilla in the Europa League final in 2016, the tank was empty.
“It was also the same last year and we conceded some strange goals. The first one was strange — and then there was a bicycle kick.
“I remember standing in the queue at Kiev airport after the final in our tracksuits with our heads down and everyone was disappointed.
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“There were a lot of different emotions but the plan was we would be there again. Now we are there, that is just incredible.
“We are excited about having a chance again. We’re more experienced than the other team but Poch is right, it won’t make much difference.”
Despite four away defeats in the competition, Liverpool have still improved massively as a team and pushed Manchester City all the way in the Premier League.
Klopp claims the current Liverpool team is the best he has ever managed — even though sweeping Mainz into the Bundesliga remains his best achievement.
Now the German wants to change all that by getting his hands on a cup at the seventh attempt...
Klopp also lost with Liverpool in the 2016 League Cup final to Manchester City. While his Borussia Dortmund were beaten by Bayern Munich in the 2013 Champions League final.
Smiling, Klopp added: “I don’t like to blame my other teams. I love them all. They all gave everything but I have never been part of a final with a better team than this.
“Our boys mix potential with attitude in the best way that I have witnessed. That is brilliant.
“In the five or six days between Barcelona (losing the semi-final first leg 3-0) and Barcelona (second leg, winning 4-0), nobody believed more than the team themselves. That is why we are here. Last year’s final kick-started the team’s development.
“From the first day of pre-season and the first match, they improved.”
Asked whether victory over Spurs would be a career highlight, Klopp hesitated. He added: “If I win it, yes.
“To bring the team to the Champions League final, the biggest moment in my career?
“No, that was 2004, getting promoted with Mainz. If you had known the money we had, the circumstances, nobody needed us in the top league.”
Liverpool have been boosted by the return to fitness of Roberto Firmino, who missed the last three matches.
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And Klopp believes Liverpool and Spurs will contest a decent final.
He added: “We should both be fresher than on the last match day.
“Tottenham have had some injuries and their players will be ready but it has helped us having Firmino back.”
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