Liverpool recovered after a difficult first half at the Etihad to book their place in the semi-finals of the Champions League with a 5-1 aggregate win.
As expected, despite coming into the second leg with a commanding 3-0 lead from the first meeting at Anfield, the visitors were under pressure immediately.
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Gabriel Jesus scored early to set the scene, as Liverpool came under intense pressure throughout the opening 45 minutes as City looked as though they believed that the turnaround was possible.
However, the Reds were much-improved after the break as they seemed to settle, and with Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino both scoring, that put them in a comfortable position and effectively ended the tie as a contest.
In turn, it appeared that Klopp may well have sent an important message to his players during the half-time interval, and the German tactician has revealed what he said.
“At half-time we said that if we score a goal it would change the atmosphere slightly. That was clear from the beginning,” he is quoted as saying by the club’s official site.
“I knew we’d have to change a little bit from the first half. We had to be more compact, win more second balls – to be more compact and then because of that winning more second balls – and then playing more and better football in the moments where we got the ball.
“That was much better in the second half and we were then really difficult.”
Liverpool deserve plenty of credit for recovering from that first-half onslaught, showing more composure and ultimately scoring the away goals that booked their place in the last four.
Over the two legs, they certainly deserved to advance, but their mature response particularly in the second half at the Etihad was absolutely vital to that and Klopp’s input was seemingly significant as his words had the desired effect and they were able to run out comfortable winners.