Iheanacho eyes first trophy against Liverpool

Last Wednesday, he made his debut game in the UEFA Champions League coming on for Sergio Aguero in a Round of 16 tie against host team Dynamo Kiev which the Citizens won 3-1.

He will be the first Liverpool manager to do so since Kenny Dalglish in 2012 when the Merseysiders visited what was nicknamed “Anfield South” during the glory years of the 1980s twice for the FA Cup and League Cup final, winning the latter for their only trophy in the last decade.

Manuel Pellegrini is likely to field a full squad after resting a series of key players against Chelsea in the fifth round of the FA Cup, where they were comprehensively beaten by Guus Hiddink’s men. That’s it, that’s how it is in football, nothing is for all time.

In the letter, Klopp tells Denise: “You’ll never walk alone”.

He smiled: “I have enough self confidence although of course it’s nice to hear”.

“But, next morning, the sun shines again and you have the chance to do something new”.

“People have come to me and said “you’ll beat them” and I say “no, it’s a tough game”.

Jurgen Klopp: “It’s not about transfers, right player, big money”.

On City’s desire: “We are a club that takes every competition seriously from the start and I know [the fans] appreciate that. Try a different way, that’s all”. “We will have to think about a real good plan for this game, where we want to do what and explain to the players why and then let’s do it”.

Lucas makes his first appearance at the national stadium during his nine-year spell with the club, after missing out on the four previous occasions the Reds have turned out under the famous arch due to injury.

“When we finish the season, if we win a couple of titles and Raheem has an important performance, it will be a good season for him”, Pellegrini added. Daniel Sturridge, Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino will look to hurt a City defence that hasn’t kept a clean sheet in four outings.

But Klopp, who will be returning to Wembley as a manager for the first time since losing the 2013 Champions League final to Bayern Munich when in charge of Borussia Dortmund, believes lifting a trophy could be a huge boost toward meeting their goals.

Fuelled by cash from Abu Dhabi since 2008, City is starting to make a habit of reaching title matches at Wembley Stadium. We had a good game when we lost 1-0 (in the Premier League in January) but it was not what we deserved.

“For this young group of lads, I think it could be something that pushes us on to be even hungrier for trophies”.