JURGEN KLOPP SAID he will draw on Liverpool’s Roman history for inspiration ahead of their Champions League semi-final showdown with Roma.
Liverpool will face Roma for a place in the Champions League final after upstaging Premier League rivals Manchester City in the quarter-finals.
The final-four tie marks a return to the Stadio Olimpico – the scene for two of Liverpool’s European triumphs in 1977 and 1984.
And Liverpool manager Klopp is relishing the club’s return to the Italian capital in pursuit of their sixth European crown.
“I will watch them for sure because it is destiny,” Klopp said. “If any German goes to Bern in Switzerland he cannot avoid thinking about 1954.
“There are not a lot of people around on the planet from that time now but it is just a special place. You think, ‘Ok, it happened here, well done, all these guys’.
“Those Liverpool teams were great but they became great in these situations and now people say ‘They did it like this’. It is good to have role models but in the end you have to do it your own way.
“Thank God Rome is still Rome. It is the place, it is not who did what, it’s the place. I love our history but it is not allowed for us to compare it constantly.”
While the German is happy to look on the match and its historical ties, he knows his side will have to write their own history to join the legends of the past.
“Like someone said [we have] to write our own history. The legends we all love are around and they are clapping because they like this,” he continued.
“Kenny Dalglish is over the moon and completely on fire. Steven Gerrard and all the other guys in between, you can feel it and see it. That’s cool.
“Now it’s a case of attitude, character stuff like that. That you stay greedy, and want to do the next step. When it’s like constantly so fantastic, it’s the first step to not be fantastic anymore and we have to stay this kind of angry. There is so much to go for and it will never stop.”
Klopp added: “Of course if I find something that helped make this place even more remarkable or special for Liverpool then I will use it.”
Liverpool host Roma at Anfield on 24 April in the first leg of their semi-final tie and play the return leg in Roma on 2 May.
