5th May 2014, Crystal Palace vs Liverpool. As the final whistle blew at Selhurst Park, the mighty Reds fell on their knees in utter despair. None of them could believe the scoreboard, the unbearable truth that they somehow blew a three-goal lead in just eleven minutes. This devastating draw hurted more than a defeat, as Liverpool imploded under pressure to bottle their chance of a first league title in twenty years. Star striker Luis Suárez bursted into tears while captain Steven Gerrard tried to comfort him in vain. Manager Brendan Rodgers shook his head in disappointment. It marked the end of an era for Liverpool FC.
Changes were swiftly made in the coming months. Súarez was sold to Barcelona for £75 million, and Gerrard retired from his legendary career to play for fun in America. After a poor start to the 2015-16 season, Rodgers was unceremoniously sacked. The man to replace him was a no-brainer for the board of Liverpool Football Club: Jürgen Klopp.
Klopp was a man of character who came from humble beginnings. He played for Mainz in Germany’s second tier and became their manager upon retirement. In just three years, Klopp secured the team’s promotion to the Bundensliga. Although he managed to keep his old team in the German top flight for two seasons, Klopp simply could not perform another miracle with literally the smallest budget and the smallest stadium in the league. He was immediately picked up by Borussia Dortmund, arguably the second-most famous German football team. Klopp’s impact was immediate, and Dortmund went unbeaten at home for the entire 2008-09 season. His signature style of high pressing and rapid counter-attack (the so-called “Gegenpressing”) propelled the team into European football for the first time in seven years. And in 2010-11, Dortmund became Champions of Germany, inspired by new stars like Mario Götze and Robert Lewandowski who would go on to become household names. The Black and Yellow achieved the same amazing feat in the next season, breaking the German record of most points in a season along the way. However, Klopp’s reign would reach its peak during 2012-13, where he narrowly lost to rivals Bayern Münich in the Champions League final.
But there was more to Klopp than just his successes and distinct tactics. He was a charismatic fellow, known for applauding fans and bear-hugging his players on the pitch after a hard-fought victory. He was authentic and down-to-earth. Above all else, Klopp valued in forging human relationships. And that was exactly what he set out to do at Liverpool FC.
At his first press conference as manager of Liverpool, Klopp declared himself to be “the Normal One”, in reference to Jose Mourinho’s infamous “Special One” quote when he first arrived in England for Chelsea. Although he downplayed himself as ordinary, Klopp also set high ambitions for the club, as he believed Liverpool would surely win a league title within four years (despite the fact they were on a 25-year drought for domestic glory). Most importantly, however, Klopp emphasized that he would “change [the fans] from doubters to believers”.
Klopp’s first season at Liverpool was a sign that something special was happening at Anfield. Due to the untimely departure of ex-manager Brendan Rodgers, Klopp only had the opportunity to work with the players available to him instead of signing new faces in a transfer window. Nevertheless, he used what he had and implemented his own football philosophy to how the team would play. In particular, Klopp utilized the 4-3-3 formation, with Roberto Firmino playing a false nine position through the center. Firmino was a player neglected by Rodgers but was actually one of Klopp’s Dortmund transfer targets; hence he thrived under Klopp and would remain a key player for years to come.
Liverpool finished the 2015-16 season with both highs and lows. They ranked only 8th in the Premier League, but managed to reach two finals: the domestic League Cup and the UEFA Europa League. An impressive achievement, but unfortunately it ended in disappointment as the Reds fell to Manchester City and Sevilla respectively. In particular, pundits heavily critiqued the terrible performance of left-back Alberto Moreno and urged Klopp to look for a new player in that specific position. Nevertheless, spirits were high at Anfield as the team prepared for their first full season under Klopp.
The 2016-17 season was Liverpool’s 125th season in existence, but it truly was nothing special. However, this was the season Klopp paved the foundation for his rebuilding of the team. The summer transfer window saw the manager bring in many key players. From the Bundesliga, Klopp purchased young goalkeeper Loris Karius and landed center back Joël Matip on a free transfer. Within the Premier League, Klopp recruited midfielder Georgino Wijnaldum from Newcastle and speedy winger Sadio Mané from Southampton. Klopp also promoted 18 year old Trent Alexander-Arnold from Liverpool’s very own academy team. All these players would play important roles in Liverpool’s future.
Unlike his predecessor, Klopp strived to improve the fresh faces at the club rather than continuously bringing in new players every season. Attacking midfielder Phillipe Coutinho registered his best season at Liverpool, hitting the back of the net 14 times as the club’s top scorer. Similarly, newcomer Sadio Mané scored 13 goals, the most he had as a Premier League Player. Also, Klopp utilized vice-captain James Milner to play left-back instead of his usual midfield position. With their new found strength, the Reds finished 4th in the league that season, which enabled them to qualify for next season’s UEFA Champions League.
While most players were excited for the club’s growth, one player in particular was not very excited about the upcoming season. Coutinho felt that his five years of service to the club is sufficient for an exit. It was also heavily rumored that Spanish giants Barcelona were wanting the Brazilian playmaker after they sold Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain. Liverpool did not want to lose their star player so close to the new season and hence were very reluctant to let him go. Klopp had his own honest conversation with the player to convince him otherwise, but Coutinho was adamant to hand in a transfer request. However, the owners of the club practically forced him to stay by putting out an official statement to “not consider any offers” for Coutinho during the summer transfer window.
The controversies surrounding Liverpool on the Coutinho business meant two of Klopp’s transfers went unnoticed. Andrew Roberston, left-back and captain of Scotland’s national team, was brought from Hull City for the meager price of £2 million, and Egyptian Mohamed Salah transferred from Roma for £35 million. Salah was a relatively unknown name at the time, as he was previously a reject at Chelsea that was loaned out and subsequently sold to Fiorentina. He has somewhat of a resurgence in Italy, scoring more than 10 goals for two seasons and finishing runner-up in Serie A with Roma in the 2016-17 season. Klopp clearly saw the potential in him, and Salah was going to stun the entire world in a Liverpool shirt.
When Salah scored on his debut league game for Liverpool, people began to notice; when he scored four goals against Watford in March 2018, former Reds captain Steven Gerrard claimed that everyone was “witnessing the start of greatness”. Amidst the attention and the spotlight, Salah just kept scoring. He would finish the season with an astounding 32 goals in the Premier League, breaking the record set by his predecessor Luis Saurez and Manchester United’s legendary Cristiano Ronaldo. He broke numerous other records, too, including the first African player to score 10+ goals in the UEFA Champions League, and most goals in all competitions for Liverpool in a single campaign. It was no surprise that Salah was deservedly awarded PFA Player of the Year for his debut season.
With Salah’s momentum and form, Liverpool did not hesitate in selling Coutinho to Barcelona for a record-breaking £142 million during the winter transfer window. This was the club’s most profitable sale as they only paid £8.5 million for him when he moved from Inter Milan back in 2013. Klopp immediately invested the money by bringing in Dutch defender Virgil van Dijk for a record fee of £75 million, which was Liverpool’s record transfer and the most expensive fee paid for a defender at that time.
Despite such talent in the team, Liverpool once again finished 4th in the league due to a lacking defense. Klopp opted to start young Karius in goal over the more experienced Simon Mignolet for most matches and that seemed to improve the situation somewhat. However, this was not the case for the UEFA Champions League final in 2018.
Inspired by Mo Salah’s goal-scoring streak, Liverpool fought hard to advance to the final of Europe’s most prestigious tournament in their first season back in the competition. They managed to knock out rivals Manchester City and Salah’s old club Roma on the way to a first taste of European glory since just losing out on the trophy in 2007. However, it was another night of disappointment for the Reds.
Excitement surrounded the fanbase and team on that night in May. Tens of thousands of Liverpool supporters showed up at Shevchenko Park in Kiev to watch the Reds take on Spanish serial winners Real Madrid, despite flights and accommodation being ridiculously expensive. They were indeed in for one hell of a game, albeit not one that they hoped for.
Just 25 minutes into the game, the Reds’ leading talisman Salah was injured while competing for the ball with Madrid defender Sergio Ramos. The latter got away with the challenge unpunished, but the Egyptian was in tears after being taken off the pitch in what was the biggest game of his career. Nevertheless, Liverpool played on without their star player. The first half ended goalless but disaster struck right after the second half began.
Loris Karius, who had performed well as Klopp’s new first-choice goalkeeper, made a horrendous error that allowed Karim Benzema to score from a throw deflection. Although Liverpool’s Sadio Mané immediately equalized, Madrid introduced the game changer of this match: Welsh striker Gareth Bale. In a stunning feat of acrobatics, Bale scored an amazing bicycle kick to put his team in the lead. Still dazed by this previous blunder and apparently suffering from a minor concussion, Karius made another terrible mistake in failing to catch Bale’s 40-yard attempt on goal. The ball went through his hands into the back of the net and Liverpool went on to lose the game 1-3.
It was a crushing defeat for Liverpool, as Real Madrid had all the luck in the world to lift their 13th Champions League Title. However, the overall mood in Klopp’s camp was one of defiance. Indeed, the manager promised the press that the team will be back stronger than ever for the next season.
With the leftover money from Coutinho's sale and after the disaster masterclass by Karius, Klopp bought in Roma’s brilliant goalkeeper Alisson. Fellow Brazilian Fabinho was brought from Monaco in France, and Klopp especially trained the player to operate as a lone central defensive midfielder. Similarly, Trent Alexander-Arnold was molded from a midfielder to play at right back. With all of these changes, the Reds’ defense looked incredibly solid.
Despite how good Liverpool looked all season, they still only came second in the league with 97 points which was at that time the third most points a club has accumulated over a season in the league’s entire history (Manchester City scored 98 points and beat Liverpool by one point). Moreover, their only defeat in the Premier League was to eventual champions Manchester City, having won or drawn all the other 37 fixtures. Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah both scored an impressive amount of 22 goals in the competition and finished as joint top scorers in the league.
With all of these achievements being done in vain, one could say losing out the Premier League trophy yet on fine margins yet again was an excruciating experience for the team. Not so. On the day after Man City captain Vincent Komapny scored an absolute rocket against Leicester City to mathematically seal the English league title, Liverpool had more important matters to deal with. They had a pretty successful campaign in the European Champions League, knocking out both Portuguese league winners Porto and Klopp’s old nemesis team Bayern Munich. However, Liverpool was absolutely thrashed by Barcelona during the first leg of the semi-finals in Spain, losing 3-0 following great goals from Lionel Messi and former Reds player Luis Súarez. The second leg, at Liverpool’s home stadium Anfield, just happened to coincide with their most disappointing day of the season.
There was little expectation that the Reds could somehow overcome the three goal deficit against one of the best teams of Europe and against arguably the best player in the world. To make matters worse, Klopp was missing two of his best forwards as both Salah and Firmino were injured. “The world outside is saying it is not possible,” Klopp told his players before the kick-off, “if we fail, then let’s fail in the most beautiful way.”
Anfield was an absolute frenzy as each and every loyal Liverpool fan showed up to support the home team. The chants were louder than ever before and the atmosphere was just crazy. Amidst the frantic chaos, seldomly-selected striker Divock Origi scored just seven minutes into the game, giving the Reds a glimmer of hope. Left-back Robertson was taken off for an injury but substitute Gini Wijnaldum came on to deliver a performance masterpiece as he scored two goals in two minutes. The aggregate score was now 3-3.
What happened next will be forever engraved in the history books of football. Alexander-Arnold was preparing to take a corner but teammate Xherdan Shaqiri requested the set piece from him. The Liverpool academy graduate was fine with this but suddenly spotted that Barça was not paying attention. He quickly went back and crossed the ball into the penalty area where Origi finished the job with another goal. History was made as Liverpool completed one of the most legendary comebacks of all time.
Klopp praised his team of “mentality monsters” after the match, and Liverpool went on to win the Champions League final 2-0 against Tottenham Hotspurs (courtesy of another Origi goal). The team had redeemed the previous year’s disaster and the Reds were now champions of Europe. It was also quite fitting that Klopp’s first trophy at the club was probably the biggest prize there was, after his trinity of losses in his previous three finals.
Having won the Champions League, Klopp turned his attention to the Premier League title. And that was exactly what he got in the 2019-20 season, though Liverpool clinched first place in the most dramatic fashion.
The Reds’ attack was lethal with Salah, Firmino, and Mané in front, while their solid defense fielded the best goalkeeper and defenders in the world. It was almost inevitable that Liverpool won the league that season, but they absolutely destroyed everyone else by tearing up the record books. The Reds accumulated 99 points in the league table, with 24 consecutive wins in a 38 game season. This amount was the second most points achieved in a season of the league’s history. They matched the record of most wins in a season (32) and held the biggest gap to second place at one stage of the league (25 points). Liverpool were also the earliest champions in the league’s history, wrapping up the title with 7 games to spare. The season also marked the first time in the club’s history that they beat every single opposition team within the league.
However, the most important thing to a Liverpool fan was the fact that they had finally won the league. In the 1980s, Liverpool dominated and basically won the league title every year, but it went through a period of deterioration through the 1990s. After the English First Division was rebranded as the Premier League in 1992, the Reds have never won the domestic title. They came close on a few occasions but it always ended in heartbreak. In fact, the last time Liverpool came first in the league was the 1989-90 season, exactly thirty years before their 2019-20 triumph. For fans growing up during Liverpool’s trophy drought, the title was not only a fulfillment of Klopp’s first promise of domestic glory within five years, but the vindication that the club they supported was back where it belonged: the Champions of England.
One could imagine how emotional it was for some of the fans, though there were even deeper levels to the achievement. On 15th April 1989, Liverpool FC suffered through the infamous Hillsborough Disaster, where 97 fans of the club died in a human crush during the FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest. To this day, the Reds commemorate the tragedy by engraving the number 97 on the back of every jersey the players wore. It also inspired future players like Steven Gerrard, whose 10 year old cousin was the youngest victim of that dreadful day. With the Reds to finally win the Premier League 30 years later, the families who lost loved ones at Hillsborough could finally be at peace.
Moreover, Liverpool’s title in the 2019-20 season was almost cruelly taken away from them by the COVID-19 pandemic. The entire league was suspended from March to June and games were played behind closed doors without fans. However, Klopp and his team persevered with the massive changes, and even held online training sessions during lockdown. Team captain Jordan Henderson started an initiative with the other captains of Premier League teams to encourage professional players to donate to the National Health Service, whose workers were battling on the frontline of the pandemic. Overall, the resilience of the team was simply incredible, and it definitely showed their passion for the sport and the club they loved. In Klopp’s own words, Liverpool players “had countless setbacks but [they]’ve always found the answer.”
For the 2020-21 season, pundits all around the world predicted that Liverpool would retain their position as the best team in England. This opinion was furthered with the transfer of Thiago Alcântara, who helped Bayern Munich win the Champions League the previous year, as well as that of young Portuguese winger Diogo Jota from Wolverhampton Wanderers within the Premier League. Klopp’s team lived up to the hype for the first three games, with Salah scoring a hattrick against Leeds United in the opening fixture and Liverpool beating both Chelsea and Arsenal. However, the Reds were clearly in the near invincible form as the before and they suffered a massive shock defeat to Aston Villa, somehow losing 2-7 A fixed form followed as Liverpool drew to newly promoted teams like Fulham and West Brom, but also humiliated Crystal Palace 7-0 at Selhurst Park. It was clear that something was going wrong.
One of the factors associated with Liverpool’s performance was the fact that games are still played behind closed doors. Without Anfield’s energetic crowd of devoted supporters, the Reds could no longer rely on their home advantage. In fact, they lost their unbeaten run at home in January 2021 after a shock defeat to Burnley, ending a 68 game streak that stretched from April 2017. Moreover, the club suffered a string of injuries at the back. With all his senior center backs out of action, Klopp had to call upon players from Liverpool’s Academy to play at the highest level of the English football pyramid. Once, he even started Henderson in that position, despite the fact the club captain has always played in midfield.
Liverpool’s defensive woes could be directly attributed to a transfer blunder by Klopp, who did not bring in a new center back after they sold Croatian defender Dejan Lovren to a Russian club. The various remedies attempted to fix the problems did little to solve the injury crisis, as the Reds lost game after game. So, Klopp loaned Ozan Kabak from German club Schalke, who was supposed to be a young and promising player. It turned out the Turkish international was simply average, and conceded three times in his debut match against Leicester.
Nevertheless, the Reds somehow managed to find form again near the end of the season, partly because of the return of some key players from injury. In particular, goalkeeper Alisson scored an extraordinary header against West Bromwich Albion in extra time, which led the Reds to finish 3rd in the Premier League and qualify for next season’s UEFA Champions League. Once again, the team showed a great mentality of never giving up.
Despite just one mediocre season, everyone wrote off Liverpool as a potential challenger for the league title in the 2021-22 season. They were about to be proven wrong yet again, as the Reds made their 130th season as a football club a truly special one. Many were skeptical of Klopp’s transfer strategy yet again, as he only brought in only one player: French center back Ibrahima Konaté from RB Leipzig in Germany. All the other major clubs in the league broke their banks to strengthen their squads: Manchester City spent a record of £100 million on Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish, Chelsea splashed £97.5 million on Romelu Lukaku from Inter Milan, and Manchester United purchased Jadon Sancho for £73 million.
Despite fierce competition all around them, Klopp’s Liverpool put on an incredible show. They managed to reach the final in every competition they were part of, and chased the Premier League title until the last game of the season. This meant the Reds participated in every game they were eligible to play, an astounding 63 times. On 27th February 2022 they won the EFL Cup against Chelsea, narrowly beating them 11-10 on penalties after a 0-0 draw at the end of extra time. It was quite amazing that everyone in a red shirt scored their penalty kicks including Irish goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher. This was Liverpool’s ninth league cup, the most of any team in the tournament’s history. On 14th May 2022, the Reds got their second trophy of the season, winning the FA Cup against Chelsea, again via penalty shoot-out. The player who made the most impact in both these competitions was surprisingly Japanese winger Takumi Minamino, who was barely played by Klopp and even loaned to Southampton for the 2020-21 season.
Klopp’s team was on the verge of clinching the Quadruple, an impossible feat that no English has ever achieved before. The addition of Colombian winger Luis Díaz for only £37 million in the January transfer window added more firepower in the Red’s already amazing attack, and the team scored goals everywhere they went. Unfortunately, Liverpool lost out on the European title to Real Madrid yet again, accepting a 0-1 defeat at the final in France.
As for the Premier League title race, the Reds showed their determination by trailing Manchester City by 1 point until the last day. Indeed, they had only lost twice that entire season. The tension was high as Liverpool only needed City to draw or lose the game against Aston Villa. Villa’s manager, the Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard, was going to cement his status as savior of his old club when his new team scored two goals against the defending champions in the first half. This ironically included a goal from Philippe Couthino, who has been sold by Barcelona. However, City put on a Liverpool-esque mentality to score three in five minutes during the second half, absolutely dashing the Reds’ dream of the Premier League trophy. It was almost a mirror of what happened during the 2018-19 season, when the Reds also lost the title by just one point to Manchester City.
The 2021-22 season came to a devastatingly disappointing end for Klopp’s Liverpool, despite the fact that it was an incredible run nonetheless. For many players, they were both physically and mentally exhausted. Therefore it was not surprising that Sadio Mané, one of Liverpool’s best players under Klopp, decided to transfer to Bayern Munich before the 2022-23 season. Cult heroes Takumi Minamino and Dicock Origi also left the club. To compensate for the departure of these forwards, Klopp fought off interests from Manchester United to secure the signature of Darwin Núñez, a 23 year old striker playing for Portuguese club Benfica. This transfer costed £85 million, making him the most expensive Liverpool signing ever. There was a lot of pressure on the Uruguayan to perform, as many fans and pundits expected him to follow the path of his fellow countryman Luis Suárez.
Núñez did well during the pre-season, scoring four goals in a friendly against RB Leipzig and also against Manchester City to help the Reds win the FA Community Shield. This was the Red’s 68th official trophy, which meant that Liverpool was now statistically the most successful English football club in history. It really showed how far the club has come under Klopp.
What followed was a season to forget. Núñez was sent off in his only second Premier League game for headbutting a Crystal Palace player. When he did return from suspension, Núñez somehow forgot how to finish, missing countless opportunities to score. This led to a massive decrease in the Reds’ output in goals. Yet, Klopp's team managed to score big in a few matches. They won 9-0 against AFC Bournemouth, which equaled the record of biggest win in Premier League history; against an in-form Manchester United, the Reds shipped seven goals to zero, including six in the second half. The utter destruction and humiliation of United’s pride was met with a defeat to 19th place Bournemouth the following week, showing how inconsistent the Reds have been all season. Furthermore, Liverpool has been eliminated from all other tournaments they competed in, including being knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid yet again (this happened after the Reds gave up a two goal advantage at Anfield to lose 2-5 at home). Many have attributed the club’s downfall to Klopp’s old tactics, as well as the manager’s questionable selection of the starting eleven for certain matches.
At the time of writing, Klopp’s team sits 8th in the Premier League table with 10 more games to play. This has been the club’s worst season in about a decade, and many have hailed it as the end of another era for Liverpool and Klopp. Indeed, Roberto Firmino, another prominent name on the German’s score sheet, has already announced his departure from the club by the end of this season. It seemed almost too late to salvage the Reds’ awful 2022-23 campaign, though Klopp has most certainly performed miracles before.
With his contract running out in 2024 and amidst rumors that he might be sacked by the club, one does wonder where Klopp would go next. His seven seasons at Liverpool have been most impressive, guiding a club back to its former glories where nobody before him managed to achieve. He has broken numerous records, built household names for players like Salah, and earned the respect of fans all around the world. Regardless of what the next chapter for the German manager entails, Jürgen Klopp is and always will remain a legend of Liverpool FC.
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