Jurgen Klopp laughed off any holes in his Liverpool side’s performance after a chaotic 3-3 second-leg draw against Benfica saw them through to the Champions League semi-finals.
Klopp had criticised the Reds’ hectic schedule ahead of the fourth out of nine games they will play in April and made seven changes to the team that started the 2-2 draw at Manchester City on Sunday for the second leg of their quarter-final at Anfield.
Ahead 3-1 from the first leg in Portugal, progression appeared a relatively straightforward prospect, especially after Ibrahima Konate nodded the hosts into an early lead.
Liverpool would conspire to throw away 1-0 and 3-1 leads on the night to leave Benfica believing until the end, but given the raft of changes made to his starting line-up, Klopp appeared neither bothered nor surprised by the erratic nature of his side’s defending.
- Liverpool 3-3 Benfica (agg 6-4) – Match report
- How the teams lined up | Match stats
- Champions League fixtures | Results
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“The day when we qualify for the semi-finals of the Champions League and I’m not happy, come here and knock me out – it would make no sense,” he told BT Sport. “We made seven changes for good reason, and played a really good first half where I liked a lot of things.
Roberto Firmino scored twice but could not earn Liverpool a victory on the night
“But 3-1 up, the last line have never played together and it’s about details. It’s difficult to keep 100 per cent concentrated, the opposition will celebrate that they got a draw, a result here, but we didn’t have the perfect mindset in that moment.
“Of course, it wasn’t exactly what we wanted to do, but it’s not important. Playing the best game of the season tonight or our whole time together, wouldn’t have made it any more likely to get into the final. We played the game we played, we’re through and that’s all I wanted. I’m happy.
