Injury and Illness Won’t Alter Liverpool’s Approach to Bayern Munich

Despite injury issues and Roberto Firmino missing training through illness, Jürgen Klopp is sounding confident.

Jürgen Klopp refused to commit to Dejan Lovren’s status at his pre-match press conference and with Liverpool’s Champions League tie with Bayern Munich just a day away, but hopes the defender might be available took a blow with confirmation he missed training.

While hardly surprising given he has now missed six weeks of action and had yet to train, it’s still disappointing. More surprising—and with the potential perhaps to be even more disappointing—was news that Roberto Firmino also missed today’s training session.

The striker has reportedly come down with an illness, and though journalists with ties to the club claim Klopp and the training staff are confident he will be able to take part on Tuesday, it will be a nervy 24 hours for fans waiting to find out if he in fact can take part.

Despite the injury issues in defence and concerns about Firmino, Klopp sounded confident about his side’s chances—as he should be given Liverpool are joint top of the Premier League table with a game in hand on Manchester City, aka the richest club in Europe.

“It’s always a big thing in these games that you show exactly the right amount of respect and not more,” Klopp said about his approach to a game between European giants. “That’s what we will do. We have to play our game. We need to be ready for a big fight.

“There’s so much talk before these games. In Germany it’s mad how much they speak about the game and they look so positively on us. But they like that, they always make Bayern a little bit smaller than they really are and so we are the ‘big favourites.’

“Most people who talk saw us only two or three times [or] see all the goals and say, ‘They are really strong.’ Yes, we are really good, that’s the truth. But it’s still a football game. The right amount of respect, not a little bit more, and showing we are at home.”

Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com