The Real Madrid forward scored two goals in a 3-1 win, which puts Los Blancos in a good position ahead of Wednesday’s return leg at Anfield.
Jurgen Klopp was impressed with Vinicius
Liverpool head coach Jurgen Klopp has admitted that he was impressed by Vinicius Junior’s display for Real Madrid in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final match. The Real Madrid forward scored two goals in a 3-1 win, which puts Los Blancos in a good position ahead of Wednesday’s return leg at Anfield. “I was impressed with Vinicius, not surprised,” Klopp said during Tuesday’s pre-match press conference. “He’s an outstanding talent. Everyone knew that before Real signed him, but he became better. One goal of his, the second, I think we could have defended. The other his first was just a great long shot, excellent first touch and finish. We tried to avoid passing in his direction, which is a big task, but impressed yes, surprised no.”
Toni Kroos is a good man, says the German coach
Another Real Madrid player praised by Klopp was Toni Kroos, who played the long ball for Vinicius’ first goal. “Toni has been one of the greatest talents in German football for a long time. He has been a great player ever since he was young,” said Klopp. “He played incredible things for Bayern Munich and then made a brave move to Real Madrid to become one of the club’s most successful footballers in the world and a World Cup winner. Obviously, it has been a pretty successful career so far. There is still a lot to be done. He’s a good man, we don’t know each other very well, but I appreciate and admire him because he’s just a great footballer. He’s difficult to defend because he can change the game from deep areas. It’s a nice package, to be honest.”
Liverpool have come back against the odds before, having done so against Barcelona just a couple of years ago, but the German coach agrees that it will be more difficult without fans in the stadium. “When you’re 3-1 down, it looks like you’re out already, and you don’t have much to lose, but we’ll give it a try and go for it,” Klopp added. “That is our job. They were better than us in the first match, and we were not as good as we could, but it is the first half. The result is a problem and the quality of the opponent. There is only one additional problem – no supporters in the stadium. We have to create our atmosphere.”