Jurgen Klopp reserved special praise for the atmosphere generated by the Nottingham Forest fans in last night’s FA Cup quarter-final.
Liverpool squeezed into the semi-finals, where they will meet Manchester City, thanks to Diogo Jota’s late goal. But the Premier League giants were pushed all the way by Steve Cooper’s side in a game which rekindled memories of the time the sides were regularly battling against each other for the title and European glory 40-plus years ago.
Ahead of the game, Klopp admitted his only real knowledge of Nottingham revolved around Robin Hood, but he has much more information now following a passionate occasion at the City Ground. The German even said the game reminded him of a European night.
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“It’s my first time here and I have to say a big compliment to everyone involved here. Each challenge they won, the crowd celebrated like they’d scored a goal, which I love a lot,” said Klopp in his post-match interview.
“It was a massive atmosphere, a massive event. It felt like a European night to be honest. I know it’s a while ago that Nottingham had them, but the crowd is prepared.”
Klopp said the performance from his side proved their passion for the competition as they also chase Premier League and Champions League glory.
“We came through with a lot of passion and desire, which is important,” he said. “We showed really that we want to go through. People can’t tell us that we don’t care [about the FA Cup], it’s the opposite, we do care, we want to go as far as possible. Now we are at Wembley and it’s the place to be.”
