Manchester City were really strong last week: Liverpool boss Klopp

Liverpool will put their unprecedented quadruple bid on the line against treblechasing Manchester City on Saturday in an FA Cup semifinal that will make or break one clubrsquos dream of football immortalityJurgen Klopprsquos men are in contention to become the first English team to win all four major trophies in one seasonThey lifted the League Cup in February and advanced to the last four of the Champions League after surviving a late scare in their quarterfinal second leg against Benfica on Wednesday With Liverpool expected to see off Spanish side Villarreal in the semifinals of Europersquos elite club competition it is Premier League leaders City who will provide the major obstacle to their ambitionsCity are just one point ahead of their title rivals in the Premier League with seven games left after last weekendrsquos 22 draw Pep Guardiolarsquos team are also in the hunt for the Champions League crown and could face Liverpool in the final if they beat Real Madrid in the semisCity have a rare feat of their own to aim for as they seek to become only the second English side to win the prized treble of the Premier League Champions League and FA Cup The grand goals of both City and Liverpool mean the stakes could not be higher when they clash for the second time within a week this time at Wembley for a place in the FA Cup final One team will leave the national stadium on a high the other having to quickly refocus Having closed the gap to City from a 14point margin in January Liverpool are living up to Klopprsquos desire to be as ldquoannoying as possiblerdquo to the Premier League champions Their two league meetings this season both ended in 22 draws and it could take extratime and penalties to separate them this weekend ldquoCity were really strong last week we were not at our best I would like to see a game where we are at our best as well The boys did a lot of good stuff in the game but I really think in a couple of positions we are really able to perform on a completely different levelrdquo said KloppAs Klopp concedes Liverpool were slightly fortunate to escape the Etihad Stadium unscathed last Sunday but they could have a significant advantage for the rematchKlopp was able to start with Mohamed Salah Sadio Mane and Virgil van Dijk on the bench for Wednesdayrsquos 33 draw against Benfica keeping his three key players fresh for the latest City showdown In contrast City were left battered and bruised after an illtempered 00 draw against Atletico Madrid in their Champions League quarterfinal second legThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever