Klopp: Liverpool showed Istanbul spirit

revealed how he reminded his players of the Istanbul spirit to inspire a famous comeback in Liverpool’s Europa League tie with Dortmund.

Liverpool fought back from a goal deficit twice, but they summoned the 2005 Champions League Istanbul spirit to score four second-half goals and claim a fantastic win.

Klopp acknowledged Dortmund had moments of brilliance – but said he used his half-time team-talk to remind his players of the 2005 Champions League triumph.

“The counter-attack of Dortmund is, in some moments, (something you cannot) defend and we saw that after four minutes, after nine minutes.

“Very often in football, the game is over then but not here, not with this Liverpool team. That is great to be part of.

“But at half-time, there was a good atmosphere because I was satisfied, not with the goals, but the game in general.

“I told the lads, ‘I was not there, but a few older Liverpool players – most of them now experts on television – were 3-0 down at half-time and won a Champions League final. So, even though it is not likely, it is possible. We should try it’. And they did.

“We scored, and everyone could see something happening in the stadium. You could see it, hear it, smell it. Then a brilliant attacking situation – Dortmund 3-1.

“Then really that is the moment in football and life when you have to show character and that’s what the lads did, and it was pretty cool to watch.

“To come back in a game like this against this highest quality opponent, you need a little bit of luck but everybody who saw the game would have to say, at the end, it was deserved.”

Klopp also praised the Anfield faithful, who once again created a brilliant atmosphere to inspire Liverpool’s comeback.

“It was an outstanding atmosphere. We need experience like this to grow together. Now we have something like a milestone and that is really good,” said Klopp.

Read more at http://www.worldsoccer.com/news/klopp-liverpool-showed-istanbul-spirit-370094#pkGSjMiJCkPotUXG.99

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Money talks: Revenue vs Profit in Premier League

The Premier League remains in a healthy financial state and clubs have recorded impressive profits despite more and more investment in players; and next season will be no different given the massive influx of TV money coming in.

For the first time since 1999, Premier League clubs have impressively recorded a second consecutive year of aggregate pre-tax profits, generating approximately £120m in 2014/15, according toDeloitte, the business advisory firm.

This is the second highest-ever aggregate pre-tax profit for Premier League clubs, and follows the record-breaking profit of £190m for the 2013/14 season.

In addition, in 2014/15 Premier League clubs recorded combined operating profits (which excludes player trading, net interest charges and the amortisation of player contracts) of more than half a billion pounds.

Despite being lower than the operating profit achieved in the first year of the current broadcast rights deals in 2013/14, this is nevertheless the second highest ever. Of the 20 clubs in the Premier League, 17 recorded an operating profit in 2014/15.

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Sid Lowe’s Notes from Spain: a great week for Spain and a fantastic one for Madrid

The final whistle had barely gone on Real Madrid’s first leg defeat to Wolfsburg when Roberto made his plea.

“Leave my dad in peace,” he said. “Every time you mention him for a comeback, we lose.” Roberto’s late father was Juanito, the former Madrid striker whose “spirit” was invoked whenever they needed a comeback.

The last time, in fact, one newspaper had run a front page story in which they “contacted” him via a ouija board session asking him what the result would be in a Copa del Rey tie with Atlético. But it didn’t work out that way: Madrid were beaten, getting knocked out and Juanito’s supposed prediction lay in tatters (much like the newspaper’s reputation).

This time, Roberto was having none of it. And after his plea nor could they. So, there was plenty of talk about the remontada or comeback, but not really about the Spirit of Juanito (even if his famous quote about 90 minutes at the Bernabéu being a long time was repeated and often).

As for Zidane, he was challenging the discourse. “I’m hearing too many ‘hot’ messages and that’s the opposite of what we need, because to go through we will have to use our heads, to play football,” he insisted.

Luka Modric agreed on the eve of the game, the message clearly having become internalised. Epic was all well and good, but football was a better idea. “We have to have a cool head, be patient and play football,” Modric said. “We’re not going to end it in five minutes.”

This time it worked. The difference in ability between Madrid and Wolfsburg was just too big for it not to. One of the conclusions drawn was a doubt: how did Madrid ever get into this fine mess in the first place? Now, they got out of it. And they always seemed likely to; they always seemed more or less in control. They may not have ended it in five minutes – in fact the winner did not come until the 76th minute – but they did draw level in 86 seconds. Ronaldo scoring in the 16th and 17th minutes. At last they had done it.

After eight failed attempts to turn a European game around in a row, Madrid did stage a second leg comeback, thanks to a hat-trick from Cristiano Ronaldo, who got his third with a free kick after Keylor Navas ran the length of the pitch to tell him to take it slow. Which he did, hitting the ball through the wall and Madrid into the semi-finals, 3-0 on the night 3-2 on aggregate.

It was something of comeback for Ronaldo too. “I was not at my level at the start of the season,” he admitted. His form really was not good before Christmas and there were significant doubts, maybe even the fear that, having gone past his 30th birthday, the end was in sight. He admitted that he had “my problems”. But he has played very well indeed since January and the last few weeks have seen him back at his best. “He’s better than ever,” Pepe said. Ronaldo scored the winner in the clásico and now this. Forty six goals this season. “Not bad is it?,” he smiled, the match ball under his arm.

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Brazil hope that Neymar can inspire them to Olympic gold in Rio

Neymar’s Brazil will not be appearing in Rio de Janeiro in any of their Olympic football group matches at the city’s own Games in August.

Brazil have never won Olympic gold and football, usually a sideshow at the Games, will be massive mainstream this time around.

The draw, at Maracana, placed the hosts in first round Group A along with South Africa, Iraq and Denmark and they will be favourites to top the mini league and progress to the knockout stage via Brasilia again and Salvador.

Finishing No1 would mean a quarter-final flight down to the Corinthians Arena in Sao Paulo and a clash with the runners-up from a Group B which features European under-21 champions Sweden, Colombia, Nigeria and Japan.

Finally then, in the semi-finals, would Brazil finally come to Rio itself . . . with the holy grail beckoning, again at Maracana, in the gold medal final on August 20.

Only if Brazil lose in the semi-finals could they return, for the bronze medal match, to Belo Horizonte, scene of their World Cup humiliation in 2014.

Germany, seeking to emulate their seniors’ triumph in Brazil at the World Cup two years ago, are in Group C in a tournament swansong for their veteran coach, Horst Hrubesch. Seeking to spoil the occasions for him will be Fiji, South Korea and Olympic champions Mexico.

Four years ago El Tri defeated Brazil, surprisingly, by 2-1 in the Olympic final at Wembley.

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Klopp salutes ‘football at its best’ after Liverpool stun Dortmund

Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp described his side’s stunning 4-3 Eurpopa League victory over Borussia Dortmund as ‘football at its best’.

Liverpool trailed 2-0 and 3-1 on the night, but four second half goals, the last of which came in stoppage time, completed an astonishing turnaround on emotional night at Anfield. The result means Liverpool go through to the semi-finals 4-3 on aggregate, where they will face one of Villarreal, Shakhtar Donets or holders Sevilla.

“It was a wonderful, wonderful night,” said Jürgen Klopp, whose Liverpool side scored four second half goals to complete a remarkable comeback against his former club.

“That was football at its best, a great game to experience for everyone involved. We wanted to be brave but that becomes more difficult when you go behind so early, though in the end I think the result was deserved. We might have got a little bit lucky but we never stopped trying and we created a lot of chances.”

Liverpool have now been installed as favourites to win the trophy, and with it entry into next season’s Champions League, though Klopp was visibly annoyed when asked about that possibility.

“Don’t ask me about this shit,” he told BT Sport. “Let us get through the semi-final first,” he added. “We have just played a brilliant, outstanding game, but we are bound to get a really strong opponent in the next round and we will have to do it all over again.”

Klopp admitted his team’s chances of progressing looked slender as his former side raced to a 2-0 lead within the opening ten minutes of what turned out to be a tumultuous night at Anfield.

“The counter-attack of Dortmund is well known, and they hit us twice,” he said.

“Very often in football the game would have been over, but not here, not with this Liverpool team. As was proved in 2005 when Liverpool came back from three goals down to win a Champions League final, anything is possible if you try.

“It did not really look likely at first, but when we started to come back everyone could see something changed inside the stadium. You could feel it and smell it. We had to show our character and that’s exactly what the lads did. It was pretty cool to watch, but the lads deserve all the credit.”

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