Mauricio Pochettino is not looking for revenge when his Chelsea team face Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday. The Chelsea boss says he respects Jurgen Klopp and his players, and he only wants to win his first trophy in England.
Pochettino has lost to Liverpool twice in big finals before. In 2019, he was in charge of Tottenham when they lost 2-0 to Liverpool in the Champions League final. A controversial penalty in the first minute gave Liverpool the lead, and they never looked back.
Last month, Pochettino’s Chelsea were thrashed 4-1 by Liverpool in the Premier League. Chelsea, who spent over £1billion on their squad, were outplayed and outclassed by the Reds.
But Chelsea have bounced back since then, with three good results away from home, including a 1-1 draw with Manchester City last week.
Pochettino says he has nothing against Klopp or Liverpool, and he admires them as a club and a team.
“It’s not personal against Klopp or Liverpool to have revenge. It’s a challenge for us to say ‘we have the possibility to write history, winning a trophy’. That is our biggest motivation. That is my motivation,” he said.
Chelsea’s fans were unhappy after their team lost 4-2 to Wolves at home, following the defeat at Anfield. But the mood has changed since then, as Chelsea won 3-1 at Aston Villa and Crystal Palace.
Pochettino admits that his team did not compete well at Anfield, and they missed a penalty chance with Conor Gallagher in the first five minutes.
“But the most important thing now in this process is to challenge ourselves to be better. If you want to challenge another person, but you are not ready… You need to put your body and your mind in the best condition. If we are in the best condition, we are going to challenge,” he said.
Pochettino does not care about the critics who question the huge spending by co-owner Todd Boehly since he took over in May 2022. He only cares about winning the Carabao Cup on Sunday.
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