Klopp knew that very few people would dare talk openly about winning seven trophies. If you failed, everyone would simply laugh at you.
Winning seven trophies meant you couldn't afford to slip up in a single final. More importantly, you had to reach every single one of them in the first place.
For Liverpool, the hardest trophy to win right now was probably the Premier League. They weren't even in the top four yet, and they were still seven points behind the leaders.
The reporters were more concerned with when Liverpool would finally start climbing the table. After all, they first had to close the gap to first place before they could seriously think about challenging for the Premier League title.
The league had already reached Matchday 19 as well, which meant Liverpool didn't have much room left for a late surge. Liverpool might pick up three points after each match, but Manchester City could do the same, and City usually seemed to get stronger as the season went on.
"Lin, you've now reached the EFL Cup final. At the start of the season, it looked as though you might end up winning nothing again, just like last season, but things have changed."
"You've been getting better and better. You now have a chance to win the EFL Cup, and you currently have the advantage over Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League. Can you tell us which trophies Liverpool are aiming to win this season?"
"Or was the Premier League title your original objective?"
Although Leo hadn't played the entire EFL Cup semifinal, the reporters were still eager to question him.
"At the start of the season, our goal was simply to improve on last season. That wasn't a particularly difficult target, because we won nothing last year. So reaching the EFL Cup final this season is already an improvement in my eyes."
"We've also been making steady progress in the Premier League. I believe we'll keep picking up points in the league match a few days from now."
Since signing Iheanacho, Leicester City had been performing very well.
Maddison, playing as the attacking midfielder, had been creating goals for Iheanacho and Vardy. Choudhury was doing well in midfield, while Amartey, Castagne, and the rest of the defense had also impressed.
Most importantly, Leicester City had an outstanding goalkeeper in Kasper Schmeichel, the son of legendary goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel.
Whenever Leo had faced Leicester City in the Premier League before, he had always been struck by Kasper Schmeichel's shot-stopping ability.
And on January 16, Liverpool's attack once again showed exactly how good he was.
"What a quick reaction from Schmeichel! Leo's long-range effort is denied again!"
"Schmeichel has already made three saves in the first half. Liverpool still haven't scored here at Leicester City's ground, but they're playing very well."
On January 16, in Matchday 20 of the Premier League, Liverpool's players were especially motivated.
Manchester City had already lost their Matchday 20 fixture.
Guardiola had endured a miserable week, with City losing both of their Premier League matches. If Liverpool could win again, they would reduce the gap to the league leaders to four points.
Three of the teams in the top six had already lost this week as well.
A Liverpool victory would not only close the gap at the top, but also allow them to climb the table and potentially move straight into the top four.
That was why Liverpool attacked relentlessly throughout the match.
Leo wanted all three points.
Schmeichel had kept Leicester City's goal intact so far, but Leo knew they needed someone to disrupt his rhythm. Once Leicester's defense was unsettled, Liverpool would have a much better chance of creating openings.
Gakpo took on the job.
He wasn't usually very good at this sort of thing, but after Leo gave him a few pointers, Schmeichel suddenly noticed that Gakpo appeared beside him at every corner.
Gakpo didn't shove him.
He didn't bump into him either.
He simply kept pinching him around the waist, especially in the spots where he was most ticklish.
At first, Kasper Schmeichel tried to ignore it.
But after Gakpo had done it over and over again, it started affecting his concentration, so Schmeichel finally complained to the referee.
The referee hardly knew what to make of it.
Calling it a foul seemed excessive because Gakpo wasn't doing anything particularly forceful.
But at the same time, he couldn't exactly allow someone to keep tickling the opposing goalkeeper.
"Gakpo, you'd better stop doing that."
"If this ends up causing a confrontation between the Leicester players and your teammates, you'll be the first one booked."
Gakpo finally stopped bothering Kasper Schmeichel.
Even so, Schmeichel's rhythm had clearly been affected.
Liverpool continued focusing their attacks through midfield and the forward line. Their defenders refused to push too high to support the midfield because Vardy and Iheanacho were extremely dangerous whenever they had space.
Liverpool had no intention of giving either of them any.
Maddison's passes were like darts, much like his goal celebration.
They flew forward quickly, one after another. Sometimes they landed right in the bullseye, sometimes a little farther out.
Passes like that were difficult to intercept because you could never be certain where the ball would arrive.
So instead of trying to predict Maddison's distribution, Liverpool's defenders focused primarily on tracking the players he was trying to find.
Liverpool controlled the first half but still couldn't score.
At the start of the second half, Klopp brought on Szoboszlai for Mac Allister.
Szoboszlai joined Núñez up front as Liverpool switched to two strikers.
Liverpool were determined to break Leicester City down.
In the 62nd minute, Leo collected the ball deep and carried it forward by himself, beating Maddison and Ndidi one after another.
Vardy had dropped very deep to help defend, but Leo kept going.
Before long, he had driven straight into a dangerous area outside Leicester's box.
Leicester City threw everything into defending.
Amartey was covering the space to Schmeichel's left, so the goalkeeper positioned himself slightly toward the right.
Leo unleashed a thunderous shot.
The ball flew over the upper left side of Amartey and ripped diagonally toward the goal, rising sharply before flashing straight into the net.
Schmeichel couldn't reach it.
Amartey couldn't stop it either.
Liverpool had finally broken through.
Klopp immediately made another substitution, bringing on Rodri, who had been rested for this round of fixtures.
From that point on, Liverpool began managing the clock.
They controlled the remaining time extremely well, and Klopp only truly relaxed after Salah latched onto a through ball from Leo and scored Liverpool's second.
Liverpool went on to beat Leicester City comfortably.
They also overtook the teams above them and climbed into fourth place in the Premier League table, now only four points behind Manchester City.
Leo waved to the Liverpool supporters and raised one finger toward them.
The message was obvious.
Fourth place was only the beginning.
Liverpool were still aiming for first.
...
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