REAL MADRID
Klopp explains how he stopped Ronaldo with Borussia Dortmund
The manager analysed Real Madrid and explained how he stopped Cristiano Ronaldo during his spell with Borussia Dortmund when they won 4-1. The USA vs. Ecuador live and direct: Friendly FIFA Date
Former Liverpool striker, Robbie Fowler, interviewed Jurgen Klopp for the Mirror ahead of the Champions League final on Saturday night. The German analysed Real Madrid and explained how he stopped Cristiano when he was at Borussia Dortmund. He hinted that Marcelo is Real Madrid weak point and spoke about how his team has evolved.
The first topic discussed was Marcelo and whether he is a weak point in Real Madrid defence. "You saw it, everybody saw it, seems obvious: ‘Marcelo, what an offensive player, but... he can’t defend’. They won the Champions League twice, they are again in the final! Bayern Munich thought they were the better team in the two games, but what is better at the end? Real need four chances to score twice. Bayern needed eight to score one. They are experienced from head to toe. There is no weakness. Football is not so easy that you can say, ‘If Marcelo (right) makes that run, and we leave Mo Salah there in that space, Salah gets in against Ramos"
Fowler recalled when Klopp was over Dortmund and he was able to limit Ronaldo's impact but putting a man marking the central midfielder and taking advantage of Ronaldo not defending. "And Marid Gotze was on Xabi Alonso's shoulder. We knew that when Alonso took the ball and he turned, Ronaldo was already on the run. And so, we put Mario marking him the day we won 4-1 and it worked very well. But it's not easy to do things like that against Real Madrid because they are as cold as ice."
Klopp comments on the turning point in Liverpool's season and when people started to take notice. "I think that the 5-0 against Porto was the first time that people said 'What's going on here?' and that's because Porto were a great team and that night we surprised them and ourselves too. And then, of course, Manchester City. For me, they were the big favourites to win the Champions League this year. The number one!"
Finally, he spoke about his side's evolution from the night against Sevilla in the Europa League final. "This time is completely different. In the game against Sevilla, we didn't have the legs or the energy. The path to Kiev is similar, but not we are a better football team."
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