Thomas Tuchel’s Dortmund travel to Merseyside to face Liverpool and has claimed his side are relishing the opportunity to play at Anfield in the second leg of the Europa League quarterfinals.
The Dortmund coach welcomed back Ilkay Gundogan to the team. Having made nine changes in the game against Schalke over the weekend, he now has a full-strength and rested squad to pick from.
He seemed very confident in his pre match press conference , insisting he loved the pressure of needing to score against the English giants, saying “We have to score and we are ready to take risks to score. We don’t want to feel boundaries but see our potential and what is possible for us. I am proud to be coach in this situation. If this is pressure, I love it.”
On Klopp’s homecoming
Tuchel believes that with the emotion of Klopp’s reunion over, Dortmund can truly show what their made of at Anfield. He said “That was a special situation with Jürgen coming back to the club where he had such a successful time, you cannot deny that energy.”
He added that there was an unmissable energy at the Westfalenstadion, with the emotion surrounding Klopp being back at Dortmund, when so many of Tuchel’s current players were with him. He said “You cannot deny the emotion that built up but the second leg is different to the first. We will be uninhibited.” He maintained that the focus is completely on playing football. “The players have a chance to immerse themselves in the experience of playing Liverpool at Anfield. We are in a much more positive frame of mind.”
On the second leg
Tuchel said that he didn’t care about the result of the first leg because he doesn’t think it will have that much of an influence on the tie. He went on to say, “I don’t think the first leg result is important because we are here to bring out a new potential in the team, to see how far we are and to score at Anfield. We don’t want to score one, but two, maybe more. We want to attack and to take risks. We like to play and it’s very clear we will have to be at our best but we are ready for it.”
On Anfield’s European nights
On the eve of the 27th Anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, the atmosphere at Anfield will be emotional and filled with passion, which might prove to be an advantage to the Reds. However, Tuchel’s men are no strangers to enthusiastic fans and passionate supporters, playing in front of nearly 81,000 Dortmund fans every other week.
He said he and his players are relishing the opportunity to play at Liverpool’s famous ground. As reported by ThisIsAnfield, he said “It is the first time I have been here but everyone knows about the Kop, the history and the red kits. It is difficult to describe exactly how I feel.”
He said the game would be watched by millions and they would be ready to put out a special performance.
Tomas Tuchel’s side will not be fazed by Anfield’s atmosphere and will look to take apart Klopp’s Liverpool and move on to the the semis. They face a confident Liverpool side who will be boosted by their home fans.
But that would mean little for Aubameyang & co as they try to make up for last week’s draw with a comprehensive
victory.
No comments:
Post a Comment