Jürgen Klopp warns Liverpool to be braced for a City ‘thunderstorm’

Liverpool take a 3-0 advantage in the quarterfinal second leg at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday - a scoreline that their manager admits surprised him - and has never been eliminated from Europe after recording a three-goal first-leg lead. Klopp's team did, however, blow a three-goal advantage at Sevilla in the group stage, while the Liverpool manager expects Pep Guardiola's side to start with the same intensity. derby against Manchester United on Saturday.

"I do not need to remind the players of a specific game," he said, referencing Sevilla. "But I saw the game of City v United at the weekend. It was one of the best first halves I ever saw. It was like a thunderstorm. Then, in the second half, they change the game. After the first [United] goal, one team gains rhythm, another team loses rhythm.

"We can go through all the scenarios - they score early, we score early, all that stuff - but it is not to plan like this. I can tell the boys 'Early Score!' But I'm not sure that really helps. We have to think about football - what we have to do, where we have to do it. This is half-time. It was the same at half-time in Anfield: the game is not over. We were in the lead, nothing else. Being in the lead is not winning. We are still in the lead but we did not win so far. We need a little bit more from this game. "

The Liverpool manager insisted his plan was all about winning the game again and it would be a mistake to try to defend a 3-0 lead against City. Despite the clear advantage, and having denied the highest-scoring team in the Premier League has a single shot on target at Anfield, Klopp. "I always see it as two legs are one game," he said.

"We are in a 3-0 lead. That is better than I would have expected. If you would have told me that this was possible I would have said: 'Do not think so.' We are so close. Our situation is not the easiest situation in world football, we are not flying with a full squad, but we stick together and we want to go as far as possible. "

The Liverpool captain, Jordan Henderson, is suspended for the second leg while the leading goalscorer Mohamed Salah missed the Merseyside on Saturday with a problem. Goal the Egypt international trainer at Melwood on Monday and is expected to start at the Etihad Stadium. Klopp said: "He and Alberto Moreno trained with the athletic coach yesterday and afterwards said: 'We will be fine.' We will have to see after the session."

Since you're here ...
... we have a small favorite to ask. More people are reading the Guardian than ever but advertising are backing the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organizations, we have not put up a paywall - we want to keep our journalism open as we can. So you can see why we need to ask for your help. The Guardian 's independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our perspective matters - because it might be your perspective, too.