Liverpool legend Steve Nicol has insisted that Jurgen Klopp is completely right about Atletico Madrid and the negative brand of football they played to beat the Reds in the Champions League.
Atletico Madrid shocked Liverpool in the last 16 of the Champions League and pulled off a win at Anfield to progress to the quarter-finals of the competitions this week.
While Atletico Madrid reveled in beating the Reds, Klopp came out after the game attacking the way Diego Simeone’s team played and bemoaned their defensive tactics over the two legs.
The Liverpool manager has been criticised by some for his comments, but Nicol thinks he was on the money in his view of how Atletico Madrid played.
He stressed that both Liverpool and Atletico Madrid spent the same kind of money over the last two years, but play vastly different brands of football.
Nicol believes Klopp was right to call out their defensive tactics, even when they played at home in the first leg.
The former Red said on ESPN FC: “Of course you do [want your manager to be a sore loser]. But at the the end of the day he is telling the truth.
“These two teams have spent the same money in two years and look how one team plays and look how the other team plays.
“You could say the way Atletico Madrid went about things at Anfield any team would have to sit because they were forced back.
“But they did the same at home. At home they did exactly the same thing and that tells you that’s the way this team plays.
“If you want the truth, you heard the truth from Klopp, they get players behind the ball.”
Atletico Madrid only controlled just over a quarter of the possession in both legs against Liverpool, with the Reds largely dominant both on Merseyside and in Madrid.
