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Jurgen Klopp believes Liverpool beat 'the best team in the world' after Man City win

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Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp considers Manchester City as the best team in the world, but was confident of a win over two legs

Jurgen Klopp felt Liverpool had seen off the best side in the world after beating Manchester City to reach the Champions League semi-finals.

The Reds survived an attempted Man City fightback to win Tuesday night's second leg of their quarter-final tie at the Etihad Stadium 2-1 and prevail 5-1 on aggregate.

An early Gabriel Jesus goal ignited Man City's comeback hopes but, after having a Leroy Sane effort wrongly disallowed, the hosts tired in the second half and were finished off by Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino.

Reds boss Klopp said: "I really think they are the best team in the world at the moment but I knew we could beat them. We completely deserve to be in the semi-finals.

 during the UEFA Champions League Quarter Final Second Leg match between Manchester City and Liverpool at Etihad Stadium on April 10, 2018 in Manchester, England.
Image: Mohamed Salah scored his 39th goal in all competitions for Liverpool on Tuesday

"You can imagine Pep (Guardiola) was not happy with the (disallowed goal) but we've scored five goals against Man City and only conceded one. These numbers are usually not possible.

"We are now in the semis and first of all we should enjoy the moment because it's obviously a while ago that Liverpool were in the semis. It was a while ago that I was in the semis!

"Now we are there together - so that's quite a cool moment and I'm really happy about it."

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Man City packed their side with attacking players in the hope of engineering a turnaround but the Reds held off a barrage of pressure.

"Man City took a risk with their line-up but I always knew we had the chance to score one or two," he added. "The boys found a solution and we had two or three moments in the first half - the best one in the last minute of the first half.

"So, it was easy for me and the boys to see the development of the game. We were already through the whirlwind."

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Watch former Liverpool captain Phil Thompson react as Liverpool equalise against Man City

But Klopp was reluctant to speak about how his side measure up to the best in Europe, despite the potential prospect of facing Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in the final four.

He said: "I have absolutely no interest in comparing us. Barcelona, Bayern, Real Madrid, they've won everything in the last 20 years. In the same time we pretty much didn't win anything as a club.

"You will not become a winner overnight. We only can develop. If we have a good day we can beat anyone, on an average day we concede cheap goals. We're still in a development phase, but we're already a good team."

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