Klopp - City of Liverpool 'Deserves' All Merseyside Final
As Everton prepares for their attempt to book their place at Wembley in the League Cup - Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp says the entrie city deserves an 'All Merseyside Final'
Simon Mignolet saved two Stoke City penalties in the semi-final as the Reds won a dramatic shoot-out 6-5 at Anfield to reach Wembley after the tie finished 1-1.
Klopp will return to Wembley for the first time since leading Borussia Dortmund to the 2013 Champions League final. He could meet Merseyside rivals Everton, who play Manchester City on Wednesday evening holding a 2-1 advantage from the first-leg.
"If everyone comes together then it's great for the whole city, this city would have deserved it since I am here. It's a great place for football, how they all live together the Blues and the Reds in normal life, that's how football should be"
The match will take place on Sunday 28 February and Klopp has predicted his team will come out on top.
"Manchester City or Everton, I don't care, we will win the cup," Klopp said. "Liverpool is a wonderful city and they deserve it.
"We have been here for four months now and I can only say the best about Liverpool. It's great to live here and live in the surroundings to meet people - even when you meet Everton fans!
"Maybe I shouldn't say this, but everyone up until now has been very friendly - they like that I'm here as we don't have much success.
"If we meet each other then for Liverpool it is a great final and for LFC very important."
Stoke were 1-0 down from the first leg, but they levelled the tie when Marko Arnautovic - despite appearing to be in an offside position - netted on the stroke of half-time, which was the only goal of the game and an aggregate score of 1-1 took the tie all the way to penalties.
Joe Allen netted the winning penalty in the shoot-out and Klopp said he was proud of his team. "That was a special game," he said.
"It was a real good game from my side against a very difficult opponent, who changed their style to play old Stoke football - Jack Butland to Peter Crouch and then the game starts. They made it very difficult to defend, so we had a few problems, although they didn't have too many opportunities.
"First-half we should have played football much more. They got the goal and I think everybody knows it was offside - it was unlucky for us. But you need luck in a penalty shoot-out and we got it.
"Over the two legs, with all the games the players have had in the last two months, they deserved it. The fans deserved it. Liverpool deserved it. It's a great moment for us. It was hard work, but it was never easy to get to a final - I take this game as difficult, but deserved."
"If everyone comes together then it's great for the whole city, this city would have deserved it since I am here. It's a great place for football, how they all live together the Blues and the Reds in normal life, that's how football should be"