Jurgen Klopp gave every Liverpool player the chance to air any issues they had after seeing Manchester City beat Leicester in dramatic fashion to close in on the Premier League title in 2019.
The Reds and City had been involved in a relentless race for the trophy, with the battle going down to the final day. In City's penultimate game they hosted the Foxes on a Monday night, knowing they needed to win if they want to leapfrog Liverpool and go back to the top.
Leicester held out for long periods, offering a threat on the break, but a goal for the ages from 25 plus yards by Vincent Kompany with 20 minutes left sent the Etihad into raptures and ultimately won the game. The success proved vital and will have had a deflating effect on Liverpool, but Klopp quickly put it to bed.
James Milner was speaking in episode four of JURGEN, a docu-series by The Anfield Wrap supported by ERDINGER - and he said: “You have City the night before, looks like they’re gonna struggle and then Vinny slices one in the top corner. I’ve seen that shot 50 times go over the fence at City’s training ground into a field, and unfortunately for us it was just one of those.”
“You come in the next day and the manager’s like: ‘Right, has anybody got anything to say about last night? No, right, here we go…’ And he was like: ‘For most teams this would be impossible, the only reason we have a chance is cause it’s you.”
Klopp's frank comments came as Liverpool were preparing to face Barcelona in the second-leg of their Champions League semi-final, at which point they trailed 3-0. A sensational night at Anfield saw the Reds overcome the odds however and secure a 4-0 win, before going on to win the final.
Six days after City's late win against Leicester they went on to claim the title at Brighton, becoming the first team in a decade to retain their crown. Pep Guardiola's side won 4-1 at the Amex, despite falling behind, with Kompany's winner against the Foxes proving crucial.
The Belgian, who would leave just weeks after his iconic moment, told Sky Sports on the strike: "Desire, belief. It's like you said, I didn't score this season, but I always feel in big moments like this that I'm going to do something. I don't know whether it'll be a header or what it'll be.
"Anything. Today there was a little bit of frustration because everyone was saying 'don't shoot, don't shoot!' - I could really hear it.cIt was annoying me and I said: 'hold on a second' – I haven't come this far in my career for young players to tell me whether I can take a shot or not. So I just took it! All I'm going to say is I've scored goals like that in training."
The Anfield Wrap, supported by ERDINGER, are releasing the final episodes of their five part docu-series, JÜRGEN. Episodes one to three will be available to watch for free here
