Legendary former Inter, Spurs, and Bayern Munich striker Jurgen Klinsmann believes that the Nerazzurri are capable of turning it around in this evening’s Champions League round of sixteen against Liverpool.
Speaking to Milan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport in an interview published in today’s print edition, the 57-year-old expressed the view that Inter are capable of the comeback even considering the strength of their opposition.
Klinsmann has experience completing European comebacks against English teams, with the German having scored the first goal in the Nerazzurri’s 3-0 win at the San Siro to overturn a 2-0 first leg loss to Aston Villa in the UEFA Cup in 1991.
Beating Liverpool this evening to secure a spot in the quarter-finals of the Champions League looks to be an altogether different proposition than that, not least because Inter have to play at Anfield rather than at the San Siro.
However, Klinsmann has faith, stating that “There’s always the possibility, crazy things can happen across ninety minutes.”
“Even though Liverpool are exceptional, they’re still just a team made up of men,” he went on. “And Inter are in the best position to go for it – they have nothing to lose.”
He predicted that “Maybe if they score in the first half then they’ll build up confidence, then who knows.”
Of the first leg loss to the Reds, Klinsmann said that “You win with the details, Inter did everything but score. But if they played as they did in the first leg, but this time the ball went in, it’s a different story.”
“However, even if Inter were to be eliminated, it would be the ‘how’ that makes the difference,” he added.
“The way they face Liverpool will also determine how they face the rest of the season,” he explained, “they must play a brave match that gives them the enthusiasm to beat their opponents in Serie A.”
“Thanks to everyone’s ability, the team managed to delay the effects of the summer sales,” the former striker said of the team, “losing Lukaku and Hakimi couldn’t help but leave a mark.”
He gave the view that “Even if Dzeko and Dumfries are doing well, the absence of those two is felt in the long term.”
Of the Nerazzurri’s recent poor form in goal up until their emphatic win over Salernitana, the German said that “There has never been a crisis or a real problem.”
“Those of us who have played as strikers know how it is,” he continued, “frustration grows when the ball doesn’t go into the net.”
“But it was never just an attacking issue,” he said, “because the team was perhaps not giving the support that it had been. Once everyone has returned to their best, the goals also return.”
About his countryman Robin Gosens, who arrived at Inter in January, Klinsmann said that “Gosens will do very well – he is smart, intelligent, humble.”
“Inter have made a logical purchase,” he opined, “but there can be no comparison [to former Inter wing-back Andreas Brehme], Andi is unique.”
“Where else can you find someone who takes a penalty with his left foot at the World Cup and then, for years later, takes one with his right in the final?” he said of Brehme. “To this day we joke about his goals at Mexico 86 and Italia 90.”
