Liverpool vs Bayern: Jurgen Klopp analyses the challenges his side face in Champions League clash

The reigning German champions travel to Anfield for the first leg of their last-16 tie with Klopp’s Liverpool

Alan O'Brien
Monday 18 February 2019 11:46 GMT
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UEFA Champions League round of 16 draw

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Jurgen Klopp has warned that Liverpool will face a Champions League opponent boasting “quality in all departments” when they take on Bayern Munich tomorrow evening.

The reigning German champions travel to Anfield for the first leg of their last-16 tie with Klopp’s Liverpool, with the two sides set to meet again in the return fixture on 13 March.

Ahead of Tuesday’s clash, Klopp has spoken in detail of what he expects from Niko Kovac’s men, who currently sit second in the Bundesliga – two points behind table toppers Borussia Dortmund.

Given Klopp’s four-year tenure at Dormund, the German is well acquainted with Bayern and appreciates this is a side with few weak spots.

“It’s quality in all departments actually and we have to admit that because it’s a fact, but the good thing is that we are good as well, we know that,” he said. “But we don’t go into the game as a favourite or whatever.”

“They were six times in a row champions of Germany, which is not easy, and they were one of the teams in the last 10 years who were pretty much all the time in the quarter-finals, semi-finals, final of the Champions League.

“These players are still all there, with a few nice add-ons: [Leon] Goretzka, [Serge] Gnabry, [Kingsley] Coman. They have different roles in the team but they are all still there and it’s just a really good football team. They had a little dip form-wise in the league when Dortmund played outstanding football, so that’s why there was a gap.

“They play still in Munich against each other so it’s nothing, and becoming seventh-time-in-a-row champions is possible. That says everything about their quality.”

Klopp added that, under Kovac, a new way of playing has emerged at the Allianz Arena.

“The style of play changed. If you are a Pep Guardiola team or a Jupp Heynckes team or now a Niko Kovac team, of course that changes [and] it’s different, but we have to adapt to that.”

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