Jurgen Klopp Credits 'Luck' in Champions League Semi-Final Win vs. Roma

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp admitted his team "needed luck" to reach the UEFA Champions League final after an action-packed semi-final second leg against AS Roma on Wednesday. 

The Reds went to the Stadio Olimpico with a 5-2 lead from the first leg but were not as comfortable as they perhaps should have been as they progressed to the final in Kiev, Ukraine, to face Real Madrid despite losing the second leg 4-2.

Klopp conceded after the clash his side were not at their best in Rome but said Liverpool deserve to be in the final due to their performances throughout the competition, per Sky Sports:

"It was the first time we were not as good as we can be, so we needed luck and that's what we had, but over the whole Champions League campaign it's deserved. As I said before the game, it would have been deserved for Roma too.

"We came into the competition as a qualifier and are now in the final and I am really happy for the boys, for the club and our fans. It's been a fantastic ride so far and now we will go to Kiev."

Liverpool got the early goal they wanted through Sadio Mane to make it 6-2 on aggregate, before a bizarre James Milner own goal made it 1-1 on the night.

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Georginio Wijnaldum's 25th-minute goal was then followed by second-half strikes from Edin Dzeko and Radja Nainggolan, before the latter added a stoppage-time penalty.

Roma's fourth came so late in the game that Liverpool never needed to panic, as the hosts had no time to get a fifth that would have forced extra time.

However, Roma squandered a number of chances and had a couple of decent penalty appeals that could have made it a much more tense affair for the travelling Liverpool fans. 

Former Manchester United centre-back and 2008 Champions League winner Rio Ferdinand lamented the quality of the defending in Tuesday's 2-2 second-leg draw between Bayern Munich and Real, per BT Sport:

The same assessment could have been made of Wednesday's clash, in which Liverpool looked incapable of shutting the game down despite having a four-goal aggregate lead after nine minutes.

It all points to another high-scoring clash in the final at Kiev's NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium on May 26 as Real go for their third Champions League triumph in a row, and Liverpool look to add a sixth European Cup to their trophy cabinet.