Liverpool head coach Jurgen Klopp has praised AC Milan’s project and revealed his belief that the club are on the right path.
With the Reds having already secured top spot in the group Klopp chose not to call up Virgil van Dijk, Jordan Henderson, Thiago and Jota for the squad, while James Milner was not available due to the suspension after picking up three yellow cards. There were four young players who have travelled to Italy with the team in Tyler Morton, Harvey Davies, Conor Bradley and Elijah Dixon-Bonner.
Nonetheless, Milan could not get the win they needed to put pressure on Atletico Madrid on Porto as they crashed out. Klopp spoke in the media room at San Siro in his post-match press conference and was asked specifically about a couple of things related to the Rossoneri, with his comments relayed by MilanNews.
“I don’t usually think about pride, because I always expect the best, but tonight we had an incredible performance. It was a great match. despite the many changes: the boys have shown that they are excellent players,” he said.
“It is incredible to have won all the games, it is another chapter in the history of this fantastic group of players. It is not a prize: it is something nice to have for sure, but it mattered the passage of the group and we must look forward.”
Klopp also revealed that he spoke with Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the tunnel after the game, but didn’t say an awful lot.
“I met him in the tunnel, we shook hands and we didn’t say much: I don’t think it’s such an important story.”
Finally, the former Dortmund boss was asked if Milan deserved to finish in last place in the group, given that Porto and Atletico Madrid also ended up above the Rossoneri.
“I like their project, it’s a nice mix of young players and experience. At the moment they have a lot of injuries and this is obviously sorry, but what they can do in the next few years is very interesting. Nobody in this group deserved to finish last, maybe this can help them with the possibility of concentrating on Serie A, without the interruptions of European football, to achieve their goals in the league.”
READ MORE: Romagnoli insists Milan played a ‘good match’ against Liverpool – “We’ll try again next year”
Even managers of other clubs feel sorry for us. We did deserve to finish last.@e played 1 good game.in Madrid and That was all. This project is going nowhere.Donnarumma left..Kessie is leaving….Pretty sure Someone with lots of cash like Newcastle or PSG will take Theo or Leao soon.Diaz is just on loan from Real Madrid.This project is going nowhere because we cannot spend any money.Other clubs will just pick off our players when they become free agents.
We played good at anfield except that penalty, we should’ve won the first fixture against atletico but referee played his role, we would’ve qualified for RO 16 earlier if we had luck we could’ve afforded to lose today if we’ve won that game. Unlucky but i have pride in this milan, they got the taste of high competition they now know the intesity they have to play to be a top team now if they lose in the league it would be a shame.
We need to sale leao, also Gabbia. & Maldini loan out, bakayoko, diaz, pelegri, Florenci out. Adli, Farvie, J Onana, Dialo, Nunez, Hauge & Hicky in. Pobeda & Colombo one more year. Rogmanioli don’t feet the staly play so he need to go also. Trade w Juve for Demiral be great.
Nunez & Milenkovic be great in January. Or Gabbia for Bremen.
Two good (if not excellent) matches against Atletico, two very poor matches and two so-so… And there catastrophic refereeing cost us 4 points. Those points would have meant the 2nd place.
*there=the
I agree that with Donnarumma and Kessie leaving the project is in jeopardy – frankly it needs to be restarted again (around Kalulu; Tomori will leave 100% as well).
It is what it is – we don’t have money anymore, or rather, PL clubs have too much money. Frankly both Kessie and Donnarumma, and I like both, do not deserve that much cash – players nowadays make too much.
Ronaldo Fenomeno would now be a poor player with his former salary…he was making 3m net in 99/00 – even if you adjust for inflation, he would make twice less than Ibra makes now…
nah,its alright..it’s first UCL for majority of the squad,plus its hell of a group.
it’s not like we’re being mauled like juventus at stamford bridge.
when we lost,it’s only on one goal margin.
Yeah, the real disappointment will be both performances against Porto..
Really, poor display against opponent that should be conquerable..
I think Klopp is right. Participation in the champions league has taught us a good lesson. I believe the management are also seeing and will be looking forward on how to upgrade the squad.
Early exit might also be a blessing in disguise as we could end up winning the Seria A.
I hope so, but if Elliot decides to keep being miserly, then we can only hope to start winning silverware in the future. Maybe 5 to 10 years from now
Yesterday’s performance was very disappointing. Key players performed poorly,with no focus.It is imperative we bring in some players in January.
Klopp’s comments mean nothing.