Klopp hoping for one last "full-throttle experience"

Jürgen Klopp on the "Bundesliga final" against Werder Bremen:
"There are some final days of the season when only one team has everything to play for, and there are others when both sides do. You need to perform really well - and know what your opponent's ambitions are: Werder have the chance to make a dream come true that neither they nor we dared to dream of before our first meeting this season. So there must be no doubts about just how much we want to be the team that makes its dream come true."

...on the pressure in the build-up to the game:
"Both teams have a huge opportunity here. For months now, Europa League qualification has been our best case scenario. We do not feel any pressure, we see it as a great opportunity. And let's not forget: it's one really, really great BVB player's final appearance for Borussia Dortmund."

...on the opposition's strengths:
"They're a really good football team with fantastic abilities when it comes to set-pieces, whether that's direct free-kicks from Junuzovic or corners and free kicks from the flanks which are often converted by the defenders. We need to be ready for this."

...on the role the crowd has to play:
"It's the last match of the season and it's Sebastian Kehl's last-ever home game - a player who has played an incredibly important role at this club in the last few years. The question is: how much of a role will nostalgia play and how much are we really in the here and now? I hope that we manage to make it into one last proper BVB home match and that we can have one last full-throttle experience before the season is over. And I hope that it's a match brimming with passion, determination and intensity. Then it will be difficult for our opponent, then we'll show our quality, then we'll be strong and achieve our objective. It would be absolutely fantastic if we could put everything we've got into creating an extraordinary atmosphere. That would make Bremen's task considerably more difficult."

...on possibly coming full circle:
"We finished my first season in sixth place. Theoretically, with a victory over Bremen there's a chance we could finish my last season in sixth position too. That would be a top ranking that seemed out of our reach for long periods."

...on saying farewell to the South Stand:
"Of course I'm going to miss it. However, right now it's my task to make sure that we don't approach this match in too nostalgic a fashion. I don't want to imagine what I will be feeling inside when the final whistle finally blows and particularly if we've won the game. My concentration, strength and power are currently required in order to focus on this last home game, these last two games in general."

...on what a possible Europa League qualification would mean to him:
"Everything! After matchday 19, it wasn't something I even dreamt of. That was the matchday when it first crossed my mind that this season could be a close call for us. We didn't put in a particularly good performance, but we really couldn't afford to lose that game. I can't even convey to you just how happy I am to be in this situation today and to no longer have to experience the brutal Bundesliga relegation battle first-hand. Over the last four or five weeks our prospects for the season have changed, and we have been able to focus on this big objective. If everyone sees this game against Bremen as an opportunity, views it as a real final and says A misplaced pass is not a misplaced pass, but an opportunity for counter-pressing, then that will help us. The burden of our poor first half of the season is still weighing us down a bit."

Boris Rupert