In a transitional season where an ageing Liverpool have often been accused of losing both their intensity and identity, for once Kopites didn’t mind a slower-paced game in Anfield’s most recent match.
Hosting the sixth official LFC Foundation Legends Charity Match, Reds stars from yesteryear rolled back the years as goals from Steven Gerrard and Mark Gonzalez earned a 2-0 win over Celtic.
While some of the players on show are in their late thirties and only recent retirees, others last represented Liverpool over 20 years ago. While it was a competitive encounter with the Hoops, with lots of crunching tackles flying in, a Legends charity game obviously lacks the elite edge we became accustomed to from such players during their own playing days.
Yet Anfield didn’t mind. As the likes of Gerrard, Sami Hyypia, and Luis Garcia pulled on the famous Red jersey once more, it brought a smile to the face just seeing such beloved heroes again taking to the stage and rolling back the years.
Admittedly, in a world where the term ‘legend’ is often overused, not every Liverpool Legend on show warrants such a tag in the truest meaning of the word. Gerrard and Hyypia, yes. Beyond that, the likes of Bjorn Tore Kvarme, Salif Diao, and Charlie Adam. Not so much.
But that was always going to be the case with this generation of Legends footballers. When these games became too much for the stars of the seventies and eighties, players who all dominated English and European football with Liverpool, their successors were never going to be able to boast the same pedigree courtesy of their own careers coinciding with the Reds’ years in the ‘wilderness’.
With Sir Kenny Dalglish, Ian Rush, John Barnes, and ECHO columnist John Aldridge now reduced to management roles, this current generation of, predominantly noughties and early twenties, legends were at least more successful than their nineties counterparts.
While an FA Cup and League Cup win was all such a decade had to offer at Anfield, the Liverpool side that faced Celtic at least featured many European champions and treble-winners. But this bridge to the next generation is already upon us.
“I think, if I’m not wrong, then maybe I’m Jurgen’s first legend?” Legends debutant Ragnar Klavan queried at the start of an exclusive interview with the ECHO, which will be published in the upcoming days. Let that realisation sink in.
The star player in Saturday’s game, having played his most recent professional match as recently as November, the Estonian is technically Klopp’s second legend courtesy of Martin Skrtel’s final season at Anfield coinciding with the German manager’s own arrival.
But the 37-year-old is indeed the first player signed by Klopp to have featured for Liverpool Legends. With it, a new age of genuine club legends is nearly upon us.
The Reds have been widely criticised and rightly so for their diminished showings this season. While last year they challenged for an unprecedented quadruple, their lost intensity and identity saw them suffer premature European and domestic cup exits this year. Meanwhile, they sit sixth in the Premier League table, seven points off the top four, and have a battle on their hands to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
Klopp’s 'mentality monsters' have gotten old together and are now at the end of their cycle. In truth, some of their passive play this year has been more befitting of a Legends stage, yet they aren’t there yet as opposing side after opposing side ultimately ran them ragged.
In recent summers, Kopites have waved off Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren, Gini Wijnaldum, Xherdan Shaqiri, Sadio Mane, and Divock Origi. Roberto Firmino will follow in such footsteps this summer, in all likelihood along with Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, while veteran vice-captain James Milner could depart at the end of his contract also.
Such players transformed Liverpool into genuine title contenders, winning the Champions League in 2019 before ending the Reds’ 30-year drought to be crowned champions of England in 2020. Those that remain might, in some cases, be on the decline and have started to lose their legs, but they have also won every major honour on offer to them.
If Liverpool don’t finish in the top four this season, further criticism will fall their way as a number of Klopp’s ranks continue to be cursed by supporters for such failings. But let us not overlook what such players have achieved.
Father Time catches up on us all, and while the story of Klopp’s first great Reds side might soon be over, a new chapter is just beginning. When the dust settles on this current campaign, rather than curse ageing stars for falling short, they should and will be remembered for everything that came before.
Their race might be run but one disappointing season does not define their legacy. At their peak, this Liverpool side conquered all of Europe. But soon their ageing legs will stop.
The Reds have been slow and sluggish at times this season, leaving fans to hope they at least have enough fight left in their legs for one last battle in the final two months of the season. Then a summer revamp and new generation will, all being well, belatedly pick up the baton.
Klavan is Klopp’s first legend but he won’t be the last. The 37-year-old Milner is potentially the Legends’ next ‘big signing’, with the likes of Lallana, Lovren, and captain Jordan Henderson a few years away from receiving such call-ups themselves.
Soon these Liverpool Legends charity matches will feature Reds heroes who conquered England, Europe, and the world. When that time comes, they will be welcomed back to Anfield with open arms and rightly celebrated and thanked for their contributions to such success. Because of them, Kopites have enjoyed the time of their lives.
This season might have been one too far for a great Klopp side and that will sting. But this era has been littered with genuine Liverpool legends that won everything there was to win. Their story might be at an end as we lie in wait for worthy successors, but what a ride it has been.
READ NEXT
'Making me believe' - Jude Bellingham sends Liverpool fans into a frenzy with latest Instagram post
Marcel Desailly's 'eyes light up' when he watches Liverpool man whose 'time is now'
Liverpool Legends player 'ratings' vs Celtic as Ragnar Klavan incredible and Steven Gerrard lively
Steven Gerrard snub as defender fumes and Celtic boss teased for outburst
'Nervous' Steven Gerrard knew what was going to happen when he played for Liverpool legends
