Jurgen Klopp heads back to the place it all started with Liverpool, admitting that Lisbon will always have a special place in his heart.
The Liverpool boss revealed that it was in Portugal’s capital city - the home of Champions League quarter final opponents Benfica - that he got the call first asking him to become boss of the famous English club. Klopp was on an extended break after leaving Borussia Dortmund, with no intention of going back into football any time soon… until the fateful day back in the Autumn of 2015, when he for once picked up a phone he had been ignoring for months.
“That call did change my life,” he admitted with a smile. “It was not (FSG group president) Mike Gordon on the phone, I spoke to him later, it was my agent on the phone, he told me about the (Liverpool) interest. We were completely in the holiday mood, so I didn’t follow some rumours around. But with two sons around they pick up pretty much everything and I knew from them a little bit that a couple of things could happen.
“The phone rings and I didn’t pick up a lot of phone calls at that time because my family was around so why should I talk to anybody? But it was my agent who is my friend as well. And when he said 'yeah Liverpool is calling', the boys were looking at me and in that moment for them the decision was made. (My wife) Ulla Ulla then had to put the thumb up and it was clear we would do it because it just felt right from the first second.”
It was an historic moment for manager and club, because his arrival aroused a sleeping giant, and prompted the first title win in 30 years, along with a memorable Champions League triumph. But for Klopp, it isn’t the trophies which define his time at Anfield, but the fact that Liverpool are once more among Europe’s elite, and feared by everyone, with structure most clubs envy.
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“I would love to say we were champions 2019 as well, and I would love to say we won the Champions League final 2018. That all would have been great, but I don’t judge my time here about the trophies too much,” he said. “I know everyone else is doing that but it is about the way we play, and the way we develop, and the way the club is; and the position the club is in is much more important. At the moment it is a healthy club in a good situation and these circumstances give you an opportunity to focus on football and that is what we try but it is really difficult.”
Klopp has brought stability to a club which was wracked with uncertainty and - at times - civil war over the previous two decades. And he says he doesn’t need Lisbon to act as a celebration of his time at Anfield, but confirmation they are on the right track: “I know the stories on us are very positive at the moment and rightly so, the boys deserve it, but we all know one failure, one little wrong step and at least one competition can be gone.
“So we have to make sure. There is no problem for us. We don’t feel that brave, we just feel ready for the next challenge and that is all I need. There is no big celebration about the development of the club, just really serious work and I’m very happy about that.”
