MADRID Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has admitted that the confusion and concern surrounding the coronavirus pandemic affected his preparations for the Champions League defeat against Atletico Madrid. More than two weeks ago, Atletico arrived on Merseyside holding a slender one-goal advantage over the Premier League leaders. The game went to extra time level at 1-1 on aggregate, but three goals for the visitors in the additional 30 minutes cancelled out Roberto Firmino’s 94th minute goal. The result saw Atletico progress to the quarter-finals of Europe’s elite competition at the expense of the 2019 winners. The match, however, proved to be the last major game in England, with all football suspended in the top four leagues just two days later due to the coronavirus. On the day Atletico landed in England, all education facilities in Madrid were closed with immediate effect, as Spain rapidly tried to get to grips with the pandemic that has since led to the country being in a strict national lockdown that enters its third week today. Speaking to Liverpool’s official website, Klopp admitted that Covid-19 fears impacted on his mindset ahead of the crunch game. “It is two weeks ago, but it feels like it is ages ago that we played Atletico,” he said. “I remember that we all knew about the situation with coronavirus around the world but we were still ‘in our tunnel’, if you want, and until then it didn’t really arrive in our mind in England.—AFP
