Klopp on Salah's Roma reunion, semi-final hopes and more

The Reds host the Serie A side in the opening leg of two to decide which of the teams will progress to the European showpiece in Kiev next month.

First, the world’s media gathered at Anfield to quiz Klopp on how the game is likely to play out, what difference the atmosphere could make, Mohamed Salah’s reunion with his former club, and more.

Read on for a summary…

On Salah winning PFA Players’ Player of the Year…

Fantastic. I’m really happy for him. He can be really proud of that, it’s a fantastic achievement. I think if all the other players vote for you that means the most to all players. I didn’t speak to him afterwards because obviously he was in London yesterday. But he will be back today and then I can tell him what I want to tell him face to face. It’s great. But he knows the season is not finished so far. There are a lot of things to come but I’m sure it’s a nice boost for him. And I really have to say, in a season like this when Kevin de Bruyne plays a season like he played, it makes it even more special. If anybody else would have voted, not the players, then I think it’s different. But the players know how difficult it is to score that many goals and to be involved in that many goals. So I really think it’s well deserved.

On what he hopes from Liverpool fans…

I think that’s pretty clear. In the stadium, do it again and better; outside the stadium, please show the respect we have to show. This is such a fantastic football club, an outstanding football family, known for fantastic atmospheres all over the world. If we can do what we did, creating an atmosphere in front of the stadium, let’s do it – I’m a big fan of that. But, please, show the respect they deserve. We are opponents on the pitch, of course, that’s the game. Everybody knows how nice and wonderful Rome is, not all the people know how wonderful Liverpool is. But we can show how wonderful the Liverpool people are, and the city and the spirit of the club. We can show that in 20 minutes before the game and then the whole world knows it. All the people who are with LFC deserve that we show that face.

On whether it will be strange for Salah to face Roma…

I think it’s pretty normal in football, it happens constantly that players change clubs and managers change clubs. I had it with Dortmund about two years ago. It’s actually a normal game but, yes, it feels quite special because you know much more about the other team than you usually know and you are more interested in the other team than you usually are. I’m pretty sure Mo follows the whole season of Roma; he had a fantastic time there, he became the player there which we now have here. Big, big credit to all the staff and players at Roma because they are all part of his development. Yes, it’s strange but in the end we are all professionals. Italian defenders are famous for not having friendly games so I think Mo will feel pretty early in the game that they are not his teammates anymore – and then he can strike back in a football way.

On similarities with Roma coach Eusebio Di Francesco and whether he would like to manage in Italy one day…

We both wear glasses and have a bad shave! [We took] a similar way to the big clubs. He started with some smaller clubs and had big success, that’s how we had it actually. But style of play, I don’t want to talk too much about that. He loves football, that’s obvious. He has a football-playing side, build-up and good organisation; I love that too, every manager loves that. Yes, maybe there are a few similarities but that doesn’t make life easier for him or me tomorrow, it only means it will be difficult and I knew that before already. I don’t think it makes sense for an Italian club to work together with me because I can only order spaghetti in the restaurant and that is not enough to be a manager of an Italian club! I don’t think about anything [like that]. I had to talk too often in the last few days or weeks about when I’ll stop working. I don’t even think about stopping working, [it’s] only because people ask me. We will see what happens – que sera, sera! But not in the next four years, for sure.

On the ‘underdog’ status of the two clubs…

I do understand that probably a lot of people thought this semi-final would have been usually Barcelona against Manchester City. But it’s not, because it’s football. Roma made it possible and we did as well, that we are now here – and I think both teams deserve it. It’s really true: I came up the stairs at Manchester City and somebody told me Roma won 3-0. I thought in the first second, ‘not possible’ because the opponent was Barcelona. But I love that game because it is possible. We did something similar at City. They play an outstanding season but in these two games we deserved to win. Now we play against each other; maybe our situation is similar in the league. They have Juventus and Napoli, we have City and United – big challenges and big competitors, of course. But that’s not important.

First of all, it’s important that we can really enjoy our own football. At the end of the season there’s only one team who can win it. But it’s a long season and our job is to show the best we can. Even if it’s not the best of the league, we still have to show it. And that’s what we try constantly. Now we don’t play the league, we play the Champions League. We still know we had to win the last game of last season against Middlesbrough; which is not a nice feeling, it’s a final. Then we were qualified. We celebrated like we were already qualified but we weren’t – we had to play against Hoffenheim, which was quite uncomfortable. We won that as well and we started the journey. Now we are here, exactly the same as Roma. We both have the chance to go to the final and that’s all I need, I don’t need anything else. People talk about pressure or a ‘once-in-a-lifetime chance’, I heard before. It’s not like that. If I go to the final, it’s the second time in my life – nobody would have thought that. It’s possible and that’s nice. If it’s possible, let’s try everything to do it.

I like the way Roma did it. Obviously they brought in quite a good sporting director last year and they again did a fantastic job. Losing Emerson and Mo Salah is really difficult. We lost Phil Coutinho – that’s not a hobby, it doesn’t feel like fun. It’s quite difficult to find players like this, you have them on a specific level and you lose them. We really had a similar situation. But we continued believing in ourselves, and Roma obviously the same. They changed manager, we didn’t have to do that at least. He is doing a brilliant job. They have all my respect and if anybody thinks we two are the underdogs, who cares? We are in the semi-final and we can go to the final, that’s all I care about.

On whether his view of Roma changed after their win against Barcelona…

No. I watch quite a lot of Italian football, to be honest, it’s always really interesting. I saw a few Roma games. I know Edin Dzeko from Germany, I liked him as a player. I like watching him, to be honest. I’m not surprised. I was surprised after the first result that they had that kind of comeback against Barcelona because it’s pretty rare. But I love that it’s possible. The quality in the team and the quality in the squad, they could make seven or eight changes for the last [league] game and were quite comfortable winning. That’s a fact. That’s a big advantage for Roma, to be honest. I don’t care about advantages; we play at home, that’s a big advantage as well.

But they have pretty much a full squad available. That’s good, and all of them are good. They have different options in offence; of course Dzeko, clear, Schick, Under, El Shaarawy, other players. Nainggolan, De Rossi, experienced. Defence strong, wing-backs strong, Peres. It all looked settled, looked fit and looked experienced. And obviously for Roma it is a big thing the semi-final, like it is for us. We are not used to that. That’s good. We don’t have experience, that’s not good, but we are not used to it – that means you will see the excitement of both teams in a positive way. That’s how football should be.

On the role the fans can play at Anfield…

I don’t have to tell people what I want to see because they know it already, they are much more experienced in these moments than we are. They created a few of the most special atmospheres in world football. In the stadium, I don’t know exactly if the atmosphere can be better than it was against Manchester City, but if it’s possible let’s try. These are the very special moments; if you cannot enjoy that moment then something is really wrong with you! For the boys on the pitch it is hard work but it’s no problem, we knew that before. But it’s much more fun when you do it at Anfield. So I don’t have to say anything – I know they will be perfect.

On what it would mean to reach the Champions League final…

I don’t like to talk about things like that before we play it. It would be very special, everybody can imagine – very, very special. But it’s nothing to talk about. We have to talk about the game against Roma and not what it would mean if we go through. We have to deserve that, not to talk about it. That’s what we try to do with all we have.