Jurgen Klopp Says Playing Atletico Madrid 'One of the Most Difficult Things'

Jurgen Klopp has said Liverpool and Atletico Madrid's respective domestic campaigns in 2019-20 will have no bearing on how their UEFA Champions League last-16 tie plays out. 

The Reds are all but guaranteed a first league title in three decades this term after opening up a 25-point gap at the top of the Premier League. They have dropped only two points all season:

Meanwhile, Atletico have endured some struggles in 2019-20 and, as a result, they sit fourth in La Liga amid a fierce battle for the Champions League spots:

On Tuesday, Liverpool go to the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium for the first leg of their last-16 tie with Atletico, and they are heavy favourites to advance to the quarter-finals.

Klopp, though, has said his side face a huge challenge in getting past Diego Simeone's side, per Marca:

"Playing against Atletico Madrid is one of the most difficult things in the life of a football player. They are a really good and organised results machine, squeezing results pretty much from each game if possible.

"People told me that this year is not exactly like that, but it is a transition period. That's normal, but still they are fighting with all they have. How they played so far this season was not as bad as people say and has nothing to do with their chances tomorrow.

"The team who play better tomorrow and in the next game, the team who fight more and want it more, will go to the next round. It's not about the team who has the best Premier League or La Liga season."

Klopp's European record as Liverpool manager is remarkable.

He steered them to the UEFA Europa League final in 2015-16, the Champions League final in 2017-18 and then won Europe's elite tournament last season.

The upshot is that the German has never lost a two-legged European tie as Reds manager.

However, while Liverpool have lost only one Premier League game since the start of the 2018-19 season, they have lost five times in Europe in that same period.

Twice they have been defeated by Napoli, once by Barcelona, once by Paris Saint-Germain and once by Red Star Belgrade. And all have been away from home.

Indeed, Liverpool's recent record away from Anfield in the Champions League is remarkably poor given how faultless they have been elsewhere.

In their last 12 fixtures on the road, including the finals in 2018 and 2019, the Reds have lost seven times.

Pair that with the fact that Atleti have not lost a home game in the Champions League since September 2017's 2-1 reverse to Chelsea—a run of nine games unbeaten—and Klopp's warning becomes increasingly clear-headed.