Manager Jurgen Klopp believes Liverpool can influence the atmosphere at Old Trafford on Thursday by matching the performance levels in the first leg of its UEFA Europa League clash with Manchester United.
The Reds take a 2-0 lead into the Round of 16 game following a rousing display at Anfield last week, when goals from Daniel Sturridge and Roberto Firmino were the least they deserved.
It was an evening to remember as the home fans signaled their intent with an awesome rendition of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” before kickoff and kept the noise up throughout the 90 minutes.
United is looking to its supporters to produce something similar as it attempts to respond in the second leg, but Klopp feels his team’s performance can set the agenda instead.
“Hopefully it’s a good atmosphere, I like it,” Klopp said. “It’s an atmosphere too when all of the people hate you, that’s not a problem. In Liverpool it was different from the first second onward, but if we had played poorly I’m pretty sure it would have been not too easy to have the same atmosphere over the whole 95 minutes.
“We will decide how good the atmosphere is tomorrow with our performance. Three-thousand Liverpool fans is enough, 3,000 is a really good number. And if they give their best, I’m sure we will take this and try to keep it in our performance. It’s not the Manchester United crowd against the Liverpool crowd, it’s the two teams against each other and the performance is always one reason for the atmosphere.
“So we want to do our best and it would mean it is difficult for Manchester United to enjoy the game.”
Read more from Klopp on LiverpoolFC.com >>
Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@LFC
