When speaking to the Brazilian media last week, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp claimed he wasn’t thinking about Flamengo yet.
The Reds had a handful of games to play before travelling to the Club World Cup. And since they and the Rio de Janeiro side would have to get through the semifinals before facing each other in the tournament, the coach said there was no reason to have such concern at this stage.
But it seems the Anfield side are about to start their preparations for the possible clash, at least according to Brazilian journalist Paulo Vinícius Coelho today.
He says Liverpool’s ‘intelligence department’ has been asking Brazilian clubs for ‘information and videos’ of Flamengo. The Reds had also contacted River Plate when the Argentine club lost the Copa Libertadores final, hoping to take advantage of some of their spying information.
Paulo Vinícius Coelho says there’s ‘caution’ from Liverpool about understanding game situations, such as the movements made by Giorgio De Arrascaeta and Everton Ribeiro in midfield, as well as Flamengo’s attacks behind Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson. There’s also some concern about set pieces.
There had been talk in Brazil saying Liverpool didn’t care about the tournament, and PVC takes this information to show Klopp is actually getting well prepared for the possible match.
