Storm Ciaran forces Liverpool to change travel plans after flight grounded
Liverpool's players and staff were forced to travel home by bus after Storm Ciaran's impact grounded their planned flight back from Bournemouth on Wednesday.
Jurgen Klopp's side had travelled to the south coast for a Carabao Cup fourth round game, playing out the fixture in windy conditions. However, the state of play at the Vitality Stadium was nothing compared to the 104mph winds recorded on the Channel Islands.
Liverpool ran out 2-1 winners, with Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez scoring either side of a Justin Kluivert effort for the Cherries. The Reds are back in action on Sunday, taking on Luton Town in the Premier League, but preparations ahead of that game were disturbed by the weather on Wednesday night.
“It was clear that it would be really storm wind, but it’s really different to play football in it," Klopp said after the game. "Now we drive home, long trip, but with going to the next round, it feels much better.”
Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola also mentioned the wind when assessing his team's narrow defeat. He admitted the wind benefitted his side in the second half, while recognising it made the opening 45 minutes tough.
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"We were struggling in the first half, it was really difficult with the wind," the Basque said. "We couldn’t kick it long and both teams were struggling to build up."
How well did Liverpool deal with the conditions in Bournemouth? Have your say in the comments section
Rain fell heavily during Bournemouth v Liverpool (Graham Hunt/ProSports/REX/Shutterstock)Klopp jokingly offered those at the post-match press conference the chance to travel back on the team bus, saying "we have food and television". The drive from Bournemouth to Liverpool would ordinarily take close to five hours, eating into the Reds' recovery time before the trip to Luton.
Liverpool will take on West Ham in the next round after they stunned Premier League high-flyers Arsenal at the London Stadium. The Hammers have already travelled to Anfield once this term, losing 3-1 in late September.
"I don't have to speak about the circumstances [because] you saw it yourselves," Klopp said of the stormy conditions. "It was really difficult for both teams.
"First half we could have scored more goals, we didn't. Second half obviously we realised it would have been a good idea to have scored more goals [in the first half] because the wind changed the game again in the second half.
"We scored our second goal, a wonderful goal and then we fought extremely hard, we had good moments but it is all about attitude in these moments. Both teams wanted it, everybody can expect that from the home team, but I saw my team as well – how hard we really wanted it and I am really happy about that. It was a top cup game in strange, strange circumstances."
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