Jurgen Klopp Says Goodbye to Liverpool
It was an emotional scene on Sunday, May 19th, 2024, at Anfield as Jurgen Klopp said goodbye to some 60,000 Liverpudlians. It was an emotional scene as the German held back tears as this months-long grieving period came to an end. Now that it is over, we can look back and admire what this man brought to English football. Klopp’s teams were defined by a remarkable ability to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. In his time at Liverpool, no other manager seemed to squeeze more out of his players. Coming from Roma, Mohammed Salah went from good to great to legendary under Klopp. The same goes for Sadio Mane and Virgil Van Dijk coming from Southampton. It felt like every new player who became part of Klopp’s system found a new gear in their game.
Klopp revitalized perhaps the Premier League’s most passionate fanbase, and that will likely be his legacy in Liverpool. He’s the man who brought the good times back. He won Liverpool their first Premier League Title in decades. He made them Champions of Europe. His impact is safe and in rare air. However, what I will remember most about Jurgen Klopp’s time at Liverpool was how his teams reflected his passion. While the Klopp era had so many great moments, three spring to mind: The first was a Europa League home leg against Borussia Dortmund, Klopp’s former club, in 2016. It was the early days of Klopp’s tenure at a downtrodden Liverpool club, but this match was a sign of things to come. Liverpool stormed back from a three-goal deficit to defeat the German giants on a Dejan Lovren header. This was the match that made European nights at Anfield a thing again. It was a classic Jurgen Klopp game: end to end, goals galore. The Dortmund team Liverpool defeated that night was remarkably talented, and in Klopp’s first season at Liverpool, they were not up to that level of quality Dortmund possessed. The victory for Liverpool showed Klopp’s ability to will his players above their talent level.
The second example is the defining match of the Jurgen Klopp era for me. While Klopp had what felt like one million epic battles against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City the 2018 UEFA Champions League quarter-final first leg sticks out. City was on their way to a 100-point season in the Premier League and seemed genuinely unbeatable. Liverpool came out and thrashed City three goals to none at Anfield. The most memorable part of that game was how no one on Liverpool seemed to stop sprinting. They were everywhere. It showed Klopp’s unmatched ability to coach effort.
Part of Klopp’s Liverpool legacy was that his side was the only team that could consistently compete with, and often defeat, Guardiola’s Manchester City. Remarkably, they were able to hang with City while spending exponentially less money on transfers. That theme carries over into the final Klopp memory I want to look back on. The 2024 Carabao Cup Final vs Chelsea was an anomaly of a match. In the midst of this year's title race, Liverpool was ravaged by injuries, forcing Klopp to field a team full of players pulled up from Liverpool’s academy, along with a few veterans. They were up against the team with one of the most expensive rosters in world football Chelsea and outplayed them. The game’s lone goal was scored by perhaps the best player of Klopp’s Liverpool era, center-back Virgil Van Dijk. The match made a few dreams come true and launched thousands of new ones around Liverpool as the local lads brought home silverware against a financial juggernaut.
There are countless other examples: the comeback against Barcelona, winning the FA Cup, Allisson’s winner against West Bromwich Albion, and so many more, but these three examples show Jurgen Klopp for what he was. He was a manager with a fierce passion for the game, but also such a tender love for his players, his club, and his fans. There have been few managers in Premier League football who have worn their emotions so visibly on their faces, and at the end of every Liverpool match, win, lose, or draw, Klopp’s face was a grateful one. One thing is for certain as he leaves Liverpool: Jurgen Klopp will never walk alone.
