The remarkable story of how Benfica B helped Liverpool win the Champions League final

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  • Jurgen Klopp and Pepijn Lijnders

    Jurgen Klopp is often consigned to Mr Motivator status and while that is part of his success as a manager, it doesn’t paint the full picture of his qualities.

    Indeed, the German does have the ability to push all the right buttons when it comes to the Liverpool players, supporters and even the board.

    However, he is also one of the most meticulous coaches in world football, as evidenced by his insistence that the Reds look to catch Barcelona napping at set-pieces during their Champions League semi-final second-leg clash at Anfield.

    And more evidence of both Klopp’s and his staff’s eye for the finer details have emerged.

    In the build-up to the Champions League final with Tottenham, the Reds faced Benfica B and Portuguese performance analyst Tiago Estevao has translated quotes from the team’s manager Renato Paiva who talked to newspaper ABola about the warm-up clash.

    Estevao also revealed from the piece that Liverpool couldn’t pick an English team due to information leaks, nor a Spanish team because Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino spent a lot of time in Spain as a player and manager, while a French side was ruled out because Hugo Lloris is the national team’s goalkeeper.

    And so they ended up with a Portugese side and the details of that above are quite magnificent.

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