Klopp downplays hopes of quadruple

LONDON • Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has continued to play down his team's chances of winning an unprecedented quadruple this season, even though it is becoming close to reality.

The Reds hung on to beat Manchester City 3-2 on Saturday to reach next month's FA Cup final, where they will have the chance to win their first FA Cup since 2006 and their eighth overall.

Having already claimed the League Cup in February, they are into the last four of the Champions League, where they will be the favourites against Villarreal, and are also second in the Premier League, just a point behind City.

Klopp's men are on track for a haul of four trophies this season - something only Barcelona (2009) and Bayern Munich (2020) have achieved. Liverpool are now closer to that feat than any other English club, but Klopp will take it game by game.

"I think a game like today shows... even more how unlikely it is to do something like that," said the German, when asked about their quadruple hopes after sealing their FA Cup final place.

"We went through against City... and in three days, we play again against Manchester United (on Tuesday), who with their three points and the results from Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal, the fight for the Champions League is open for all of the three.

"Then in a few days, we play Everton... then Villarreal, (which) will not be a friendly game. Then Newcastle and all these kind of things, so it's just incredibly intense and it is really unlikely the team will win all the games.

"But I couldn't care less, to be honest. It is just, let's go for it, let's try to win the next game and then we will see how we can recover between now and then."

But despite Klopp playing down the fervent expectations, Liverpool's players have admitted the quadruple is now within their grasp.

Calling it "a dream", forward Sadio Mane, who netted twice against City, said: "We have a lot of games to go, we will try to do our best."

Meanwhile, City's treble bid ended on Saturday, meaning they only have the defence of their Premier League title and the Champions League to play for this season.

Many have blamed back-up goalkeeper Zack Steffen for his horrendous error that allowed Mane to score his first goal, which ended up proving costly.

The United States international has exclusively played in the FA Cup and League Cup competitions, so he is unlikely to start again for City this term.

However, City boss Pep Guardiola has insisted Steffen remains an important rotational player, calling on critics to lay off.

"It was an accident, but we need him to try because that's how we play our football," the Catalan said.

"He deserves to play... We use our 'keeper to move our opponents into different situations. I'm pretty sure Zack didn't want to do it."

REUTERS