LONDON, May 28 (Xinhua) -- Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp said on Tuesday that the heartbreak of losing last season's Champions League final 3-1 to Real Madrid inspires his players to go one better when they face Tottenham Hotspurs in this season's final in Atletico Madrid's Wanda Metropolitano Stadium on Saturday.
"It had a big influence on us," said Klopp about last season's defeat in Kiev, adding that he remembered the feeling of "standing in the queue at the airport in Kiev on the way home."
"We were all in tracksuits, heads down and stuff like that. Everybody really frustrated and very disappointed about the situation."
"The plan was we come again. Now we are there, it's just incredible. It was the kick-start for the development of this team," he commented, saying this campaign had been a mission to put right last season's disappointment.
"From the first day in the pre-season when we were all together, from the first matchday. It was a big, big step for the boys. This team cannot be compared with the team from last year," continued Klopp, insisting he has "never been part of a final with a better team than this."
Klopp said he wasn't concerned that the 3-week gap between the end of the Premier League season and Saturday's final would be a factor, before confirming that although midfielder Naby Keita will miss the game, forward Roberto Firmino will be fit.
"Both teams have had the same time to use, or lose their rhythm. I think played in a European final three or four years ago, when we played three days after a really intense league. If you ask me to choose between three days and three weeks, I would also say three weeks."
Finally Klopp said there was little difference between the two sides despite Liverpool finishing over 20 points ahead of Saturday's rivals in this season's Premier League.
"The quality of us and Tottenham is pretty similar; the only difference in the league was consistency. We won both games against Tottenham but only 2-1," he commented.
