Liverpool defender, Virgil van Dijk has revealed the exact words from manager, Jurgen Klopp at half-time after they fell 2-0 to Villarreal under 45 minutes in their Champions League quarter-final second leg in Spain.
The Reds had to come from behind to defeat Villarreal 3-2 (5-2) on aggregate to book their place in the final, waiting for who would emerge winner between Real Madrid and Manchester City in the second semi-final game on Wednesday.
Boulaye Dia fired in a third-minute opener and Francis Coquelin added a second for the home side in the 41st minute at El Madrigal.
But the Spaniards could not maintain that first half performance as a very dominant second-half display from Liverpool saw Fabinho, Sadio Mane and Luis Diaz scoring to ensure that the Premier League giants booked a place in Paris.
Asked what Klopp told them at half-time, the Dutchman said “[He told us] play football. Play the Liverpool way, how we’ve basically played all season.
“Get on the ball, have a lot of movements behind their high line. With the speed we have, we had to mix it up.
“But also, you have to show how much you really want to go to the final, that’s how it starts. Second half, we dominated and played so well.”