Jurgen Klopp is gearing up for an emotional return to the stadium he once called home as Liverpool prepare to visit Signal Iduna Park to face Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final tie.
Klopp returns to the club at which he achieved so much success during his seven years as manager in a clash between two European heavyweights. Although the Liverpool boss would have preferred not to go up against Dortmund so early in the campaign, the tie promises to be an exciting affair.
Ahead of the match, Klopp insisted that he would celebrate if Liverpool scored against his former team, recalling that he did the same when he visited Mainz with Dortmund.
“Of course I will celebrate,” said Klopp, according to the Guardian.
“I did it when I went back to Mainz with Dortmund, and I was there for 18 years. If after seven years they don’t know me well enough that my team should score and I will celebrate, what can I say? It depends.
“If it’s in the first minute I don’t know, I won’t go running down the line. But if it’s important, decisive, in this moment that’s what happens. It’s not that I plan this but I will not take some pills to stop me from celebrating a goal.”
The backdoor to the Champions League
Liverpool travel to Dortmund on Thursday with expectations of securing European football through the Premier League slowly fading. After a draw against Tottenham Hotspur at the weekend, the Reds are in ninth position in the league table and will find it extremely difficult to break into the top four.
This makes the Europa League their only pathway towards Champions League football for next season — a major target for a historic and ambitious club like Liverpool. Borussia Dortmund remain their major hurdle in pursuit of that goal and defeating the German outfit would greatly increase their chances of winning the competition. The Reds will hope to plunder one or two away goals and then see the tie out at Anfield in the second leg.
