Jürgen Klopp has said Liverpool must match Diego Costa’s aggression at Chelsea on Friday tomorrow but added he would never ask his team to provoke an opponent into a red card.
The Chelsea striker has been in fine form for Antonio Conte’s team, scoring four goals in four games plus two for Spain in their 8-0 defeat of Liechtenstein. Klopp believes the arrival of the former Italy coach has reinvigorated Costa and the 27-year-old will pose a major threat to Liverpool at Stamford Bridge.
Conte has claimed defenders are setting out to incite Costa because of the player’s combustible nature but Klopp said Liverpool’s focus should be on stopping Chelsea as an attacking unit rather than on seeking to antagonise their leading striker.
Klopp said: “It is not part of my preparation [to provoke Costa]. I never said in my life to a team: ‘He’s always close to a red card, so do whatever you can so he gets it.’ Antonio has already created a good relationship with him, so he is completely different. He is in good shape, he is aggressive but I didn’t see until now any challenges where you could say it should have been a red card. I thought against Swansea it was more a problem for the two defenders.
“Being aggressive is important against him. There will be hard challenges but it is not about having a one-on-one fight for the whole 90 minutes and then saying: ‘I took him out of the game.’ Taking Diego out of the game makes sense but even then other players can create moments, so there are a lot more things to do.”
Klopp described Costa as world-class and believes the striker will be “a real warrior” again for Chelsea this season. Liverpool visit Stamford Bridge in confident form after beating Leicester City, the champions, 4-1 on Saturday and having produced encouraging away displays at Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur this term. But their manager has warned that Costa poses a major threat for Chelsea having rediscovered the goalscoring touch and menace that often eluded him last season.
“World-class,” said Klopp when asked to describe the Chelsea centre-forward. “If other supporters love you, it’s not a good sign. He is a real warrior on the pitch. He uses his body all the time – that is his quality – and he was nearly unstoppable against Swansea. He could have been the man of the match.”
Liverpool and Chelsea played an ill-tempered friendly in the United States in the summer when Cesc Fàbregas was sent off for a poor challenge on the defender Ragnar Klavan.
Klopp added: “Games against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge are a special thing and always will be in the Premier League. They are a good side. I saw the 90 minutes versus Swansea and they could have won that game. They are the champions of two years ago. Last season was not a Chelsea season but now they are back on track so we must be ready for a real challenge. They attack well and defend strong, but we are quite confident we can do something there.
“Conte is a great manager, a successful manager, the Pep Guardiola of Juventus if you want, in that he created their successful style and he was also successful with the Italian national team. But I don’t play against Antonio Conte, which is good for me because he was a great player. I know about our respect for Chelsea and I’m pretty sure it is the same for them. They saw us play. It’s a game we’re looking forward to. Let’s go there and try everything.”
Liverpool will have Dejan Lovren available against Chelsea after the Croatia defender missed Saturday’s win over Leicester because of a black eye suffered in training. Emre Can, however, will not be considered despite his recovery from an ankle problem. “Emre is not injured but now he needs to train,” Klopp said. “It’s not the best moment for him and now we need to make him fit.”
