REVEALED: Jurgen Klopp got Benfica’s B team to imitate Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen in secret friendly before Liverpool’s Champions League final victory over Tottenham
- Jurgen Klopp arranged a special friendly against Benfica’s B team in Marbella
- The Liverpool boss asked their opponents to set up exactly like Tottenham
- A trio of young players mimicked Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen
- They copied Spurs’ formation, set-pieces and their style of play from the back
- Extra preparation appeared to work as Liverpool won the Champions League
Jurgen Klopp went the extra mile in his preparations for the Champions League final by getting Benfica’s B team to mimic Harry Kane and Co in a warm-up match.
The Liverpool boss arranged the behind-closed-doors friendly during his side’s training camp in Marbella in the build-up to Saturday’s final.
But instead of simply getting some minutes for his squad during the three-week break between competitive games, Klopp made sure the opposition were set up to play like Spurs – complete with their own Kane, Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen.
Liverpool enjoyed a training camp in Marbella prior to Saturday’s Champions League final
Jurgen Klopp arranged for Benfica’s B team to play just like Tottenham in a secret friendly
The manager of Benfica B, Renato Paiva, revealed Klopp’s methods to Portuguese newspaper A Bola this week, detailing exactly what his young players did to copy Mauricio Pochettino’s style of play.
As well as adopting the same formation and playing out from the back in a similar manner, Paiva also entrusted three of his players to play the specific roles of key Tottenham trio Kane, Alli and Eriksen.
Jose Gomes took on the role of Kane, Bernardo Dias was Alli and Vinicius Ferreira did the job of Eriksen during the game as Liverpool’s players familiarised themselves with what to expect at the Wanda Metropolitano.
‘We recreated two of their offensive and two of their defensive moments, as well as the set-pieces we thought they’d use in the final,’ Paiva told A Bola.
‘We replicated their centre back and goalkeeper build-up routines, their 4-2-3-1 defensive shape with the striker cutting between opposition centre backs and the 10 obstructing Liverpool’s 6. Vinicius mimicked Eriksen, Bernardo acted more like Alli and Gomes was Kane.
‘We had to adapt to that 4-2-3-1 shape, both defensively and in possession, with two midfielders dropping closer to the centre backs during build-up to try and attract Liverpool’s press.
‘Tottenham would ideally want to attract Liverpool players closer to their box, so after a couple of passes between centre backs and goalkeeper they can then attack the space in behind with their forwards and full backs.
Jordan Henderson lifts the Champions League trophy after Liverpool’s win over Tottenham
‘We ended up just making slight tweaks to our regular system. A midfield triangle with Alli moving closer to the opposition centre back (with Kane next to the other), Eriksen moving inwards to draw the full back in while Trippier covers the wide space. Much like with Son and Rose on the left.’
The secret friendly appeared to have helped Liverpool as they held off Tottenham’s attacking threat to seal a 2-0 win in Madrid, claiming their sixth European Cup in the process.
Paiva added: ‘Klopp complimented us – “When you dropped your centre backs to build-up we immediately set up the same press we used against Manchester City and you still managed to surpass it three of four times!”‘