Jurgen Klopp told Liverpool's players to believe and "just show f*cking balls" ahead of their remarkable 4-0 win over Barcelona, Dejan Lovren has revealed.
The Reds overturned a 3-0 deficit from the semi-final first leg with a 4-0 win thanks to two goals each from Divock Origi and Gini Wijnaldum on an historic night at Anfield.
Liverpool will now line-up in their second consecutive Champions League final and the achievement has already led to comparisons of Klopp with legendary manager Bill Shankly.
Speaking after the victory, Lovren, who was an unused substitute, paid tribute to the German.
"Congratulations to Klopp," the defender told the club's official website . "Before the game he did an amazing speech.
"It was something brilliant and I think he lifted us so high. It was just 'Believe! Put it in your mind that we can do it'. It was something that we've never heard before.
"He said 'Boys, believe. One or two goals, even if we don't score in the first 15, 20 minutes, believe in the 65th, 66th, 67th minute that we can score, and then with Anfield behind us, trust me guys, we can do it. We did it once against Dortmund, we can do it tonight. Just show f*cking balls tonight'. And we did it!"
Liverpool will now face either Ajax or Tottenham in the final on June 1 in Madrid.
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The Premier League outfit had been written off ahead of Tuesday's second leg, and Klopp was in awe of his players' achievement after the game: "What the boys did – this mix, again, of big heart and football skills – is unbelievable.
"But then, how we know – and we didn’t learn it in the first game, we knew it before already – if you have chances you have to score because otherwise you get punished. Tonight we scored in different ways.
"It’s unbelievable after the season we played, the games we had, the injuries we have now in this moment. If you go out there and ask who bet a penny on us, I don’t think you’ll find a lot of people.
"And then going out there and putting a performance like this on the pitch is unbelievable. I’m really proud to be the manager of this team. What they did tonight is so special and I will remember it forever. I don’t know if it happened before and I don’t know if it can happen again. The boys did it and it was brilliant.
"How can you be sure before a game? I said to the boys, ‘I think it’s impossible but because it’s you we have a chance.’ And we believed in this chance. We didn’t compare it with Istanbul or whatever. We said from the beginning, we want to create our own history – not because we are not happy about having the history of the club, no, because we need new chapters obviously. And the boys did it already – that’s unbelievable."
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