. We played Kazan (in his first Euro game), trying to (cobble together) a team somehow. It was a different squad, we were not ready but we somehow came through. In the quarter and semi-finals we played well but until then I don't think we were exceptional.' He does think this team has the quality to be exceptional, with some rising young stars such as 22-year-old Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch, 21, headlining a fresh-faced group with several teenagers set to star in the coming months. But speaking in Linz, as he prepared to meet the Au){kind=link}
Through the misfortune of a poor Premier League campaign last season, Liverpool are favourites for the Europa League despite completely changing their midfield in the summer
Jurgen Klopp has many sides to his complex character, yet there is not a hint of arrogance to his unrelenting belief in his Liverpool team.
Which is why he can say, with all sincerity, that his current generation – who he dubs “Year One”, given his desire to build an exciting new team at Anfield from the ground up – is far better than the side which reached the Europa League final way back in 2016, his first season at the club.
That season, Klopp cobbled together a ramshackle group to go all the way to the final, despite a long-term injury to influential skipper Jordan Henderson, and a ban for his first-choice centre half Mamadou Sakho, leaving ageing veteran Kolo Toure to fill the void.
This time around, through the misfortune of a poor Premier League campaign, they are favourites for the competition, despite completely changing their midfield in the summer. And Klopp believes it’s justified. Asked if there were comparisons between the two sides, he said: “No. My first year I thought the Europa League was too much for us until the final because we had to play almost every day.