Jürgen Klopp has called on Liverpool to deliver another exhibition of “big balls football” to defeat Real Madrid in the Champions League final and launch a new era of European success for the club.

“We are Liverpool, we are different,” Klopp said as he looked to Saturday’s game in Kiev with firm confidence. The German coach has lost his past five finals, two with Liverpool and three with Borussia Dortmund, and confronts a Madrid team attempting to become the first club since Bayern Munich in 1976 to win a hat-trick of European Cups. Liverpool, however, are the highest-scoring team in this season’s competition and Klopp believes his players pose a unique threat to the European champions.

A dentist agent, Messi the dog: meet the Real Madrid and Liverpool teams Read more

The Liverpool manager said: “This is just the start, 100%. I don’t know exactly why I think it constantly but we are Liverpool. We have been different the whole campaign and we want to be different again in that final. You go through and analyse and you see this, you see that, but they never played us. We are not always but we can be different. That’s really important.

“That’s why we are in the final, not because we are the best team in the competition and everybody thought before the season: ‘Yeah, it will be Liverpool and whoever.’ It was exactly the other way around. The boys played a kind of football that was different. We had so many game-changing moments. Unbelievable. These moments, we had them 500 times and we need them again. Not waiting for something, not hoping for something, no; change the game in the moments you can change it and that’s it.”

Klopp’s confidence is based on performances that he claims have reached a new level in the Champions League this season, with Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mané scoring 29 of the team’s 40 goals.

Marking a departure from the heavy metal football for which he is synonymous, the manager explained: “The home games were like: ‘Wow, what’s that?’ It was kind of a new level in the Champions League in these games. It was not that we were so much better but it was so different, so brave, it was big balls football. I really loved it. The power we had against City for example was like: ‘What’s that?’ They were better in all the other parts of the game, yes they played until they were in our six-yard box, but when we were in possession it was massive. It’s difficult to do but the boys did it and now we have to do it again.”

The Fiver: sign up and get our daily football email.

Liverpool are competing in their eighth European Cup final and first for 11 years, with all five victories coming against teams wearing an all-white strip. Irrespective of the omen against Madrid, Klopp believes Saturday represents the start of a prolonged return for Liverpool to the European elite.

“To qualify for the final shows that you are back,” he said. “To win it? You need a little bit of luck and stuff like that. But we are back. We have shown how good we are. Now we have to win the game. We have to continue on the way. Even if you win, you cannot stop. If you lose, you cannot stop.

“I really like the way we are as a club, as a team. This week, the only thing that is important is the final. But, in general, it is important that the club goes in the right direction. That is very positive. I said to the boys before the semi-final that I don’t think we are the last time here.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jürgen Klopp gives instructions to his players during a training session on the eve of the final. Photograph: Lluis Gene/AFP/Getty Images

Klopp has backed Salah to take over from Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi as the world’s best player: “Mo has the potential to go there over the next few years … but it is not that easy.”

In response Sergio Ramos was dismissive of the idea that Salah could be likened to his Madrid team-mate or Messi after one stellar season. “Comparing players with Ronaldo and Messi is something you can’t do – they’re in another orbit,” Ramos said. “There are players who are in fashion, those who appear briefly and disappear and others who stay around. Salah is a top player, that’s clear. He’s shown that this year and he’s got a great chance to show that over the next few years as Ronaldo and Messi have done, but the day after tomorrow!”