There are certain football clubs which just seem to have a natural affinity - a ‘sympatico’ - between them.
It is well-documented how before Jurgen Klopp’s arrival at Liverpool in October 2015, he had the previous year turned down an approach from Manchester United to be their manager reportedly baulking at the ‘adult version of Disneyland’ vision of Old Trafford said to have been pitched to him by then executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward.
"Klopp fits Liverpool so perfectly because his background is very humble,” said fellow German Jurgen Klinsmann in 2019 after his compatriot’s breakthrough Champions League triumph over Tottenham Hotspur in Madrid. “His background is blue collar, hardworking, they live and die for their club and so his whole life basically was always very, very closely connected to the people, to the neighbourhoods."
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That description could also very easily be applied to Borussia Dortmund, Klopp’s previous club before coming to Liverpool where after making his name as a coach as Mainz 05 and leading them into the top flight, he briefly usurped Bayern Munich’s dominance of the German scene by winning successive Bundesliga titles and led the ‘Schwarzgelb’ to a Champions League final where they were narrowly beaten by their domestic rivals at Wembley.
The values - footballing and human - Klopp lives by found a natural home on Merseyside and have made him as loved for his character and principles as much as the golden Anfield era he has played such a huge role in establishing, so with hindsight it should be no surprise he has proved such a perfect fit given the career path he has followed and the links between Dortmund and Liverpool.
The German city will always have a special place in the hearts of Liverpudlians who remember the epic 2001 UEFA Cup final played there when Gerard Houllier’s side’s 5-4 golden goal victory over Spanish minnows CD Alaves secured an unprecedented cup treble. Less so perhaps, those senior enough to recall the Reds’ first ever European final in 1966 when they took on Dortmund at Hampden Park and an outrageously unfortunate own goal deep into extra-time by skipper Ron Yeats cost Bill Shankly’s men the European Cup Winners' Cup, a trophy Liverpool were fated never to win.
The supporters’ of the two clubs are regarded by many as the most passionate in their country. ‘The Yellow Wall’, Dortmund’s huge 25,000-capacity home end which is the largest free-standing grandstand in Europe, has a similar reputation to Anfield’s Kop with the strains of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ regularly being heard on both - the German club reputed to have taken it up in the mid-1990s having been said to have co-opted it from Hamburg St Pauli, who introduced it to Germany after a group of their fans had met with Celtic supporters.
And it was during this period that the path Klopp would eventually tread two decades later between Westphalia and Merseyside was first crossed by two international stars who would enjoy varying degrees of success of Anfield.
In August 1996, Liverpool paid Dortmund £3.25m for the services of Czech Republic attacking midfielder Patrik Berger who was rated as one of Europe’s brightest young talents after helping inspire his country to the final of that summer’s European Championships, which had been held in England. Berger enjoying something of a hit-and-miss six years at Anfield after a whirlwind start which saw him score four times in his first two games but still playing a part in the memorable 2001 Treble triumph.
The following summer Dortmund were again recipients of funds from the Anfield chequebook, this time for a player almost ten years older than Berger but who had just displayed his enduring goalscoring talent on the biggest stage in European football.
Karl-Heinz Riedle had made his breakthrough in the late 1980s with Augsburg and Blau-Weiss Berlin before a move to Werder Bremen established him as one of the country’s top strikers. League and Cup successes won him a place in Franz Beckenbauer’s squad for the 1990 World Cup finals in Italy where, despite largely being used as back up for Klinsmann and Rudi Voller, he contributed as West Germany won the trophy as well as a nerveless spot-kick in the penalty shoot-out - his first ever in the professional game - having come on as a substitute against Bobby Robson’s England in the semi-finals.
A big-money move to Lazio in Italy followed that summer before he returned to his homeland with Dortmund in 1993 and, although his goal returns never matched those of his early years in Germany, Riedle’s heading prowess - which saw nicknamed ‘Air’ throughout his career despite only being 5ft 10in tall - and all-round team-play saw him help the Schwarzgelb end a 32-year title-drought by winning the German league and cup double in both 1995 and 1996 as well as defy expectation to the reach the following season’s Champions League final.
Huge underdogs against Marcello Lippi’s star-studded Juventus side, Riedle - who was only making his 23rd appearance of an injury-hit campaign - stamped his authority all over proceedings in Munich’s Olimpiastadion by scoring twice within five first-half minutes to put Ottmar Hitzfield’s side firmly in command, rifling in the opener with his left foot from a narrow angle after chesting down Scottish midfielder Paul Lambert’s cross, before bulleting home a header from Andrea Moller’s corner to double the lead. Although Alessandro Del Piero pulled a goal back for the Italians midway through the second half, Lars Ricken’s stunning lob five minutes later with his first touch after coming on as a substitute seconds before ensured Dortmund became champions of Europe for the first time in their history and secured Riedle’s place in German football folklore.
His future at the Westfalenstadion was soon in doubt however when Hitzfeld left as manager to be replaced by Italian coach Nevio Scala and speculation began to link him with a move to Liverpool, where Roy Evans was looking to add his experience and quality to his young squad after another promising season which had ended in abject disappointment. Having taken over from Graeme Souness in January 1994, Shankly’s former Boot Room apostle had built an attractive and attacking side which had threatened to break Manchester United’s dominance of the Premier League’s early years but, after losing the FA Cup final to Alex Ferguson’s side in 1996, the following year the Reds slumped badly in the run-in and managed to finish only fourth in a two-horse title race while also losing to Paris Saint Germain in the European Cup Winners' Cup semi-finals.
Alongside Wimbledon winger Oyvind Leonhardsen, self-styled midfielder hardman and former Manchester United star Paul Ince was brought in from Inter Milan in attempt to add steel to the Reds’ midfield and, with Stan Collymore leaving that summer to join Aston Villa, Riedle duly arrived at Anfield for £1.8m to bolster the front line.
Some eyebrows were raised with the German being only a few months short of his 32nd birthday but it was soon made clear to Riedle his nous and professionalism were just what Evans felt was needed to provide an example to 22-year-old Robbie Fowler and 17-year-old hot-shot Michael Owen who had made his first senior appearance (and scored his first goal) in the previous season’s penultimate game at Wimbledon when the Reds' title dreams had finally bit the dust.
"I didn't have to think twice, ”Riedle recalled when reflecting back on how his move to Liverpool came about. “For me, a childhood dream came true. Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness, Kevin Keegan, Ian Rush - these were heroes of my youth. The red of the club has always had a magical attraction for me.
“It changed a lot at Dortmund because Scala had different ideas and he wanted to bring Italian players, Brazilian players in. I realised quite quickly that this might not a good thing between him and me. Then the offer for Liverpool was there and I was really happy to go to England. I wasn't disappointed because as a player you can feel things aren’t right when you get a new coach. Then I get this offer from Liverpool and I said to the club, 'okay, this is something that maybe comes once in a lifetime'. From my point of view, Liverpool was a dream to play for one day. I asked if it was okay and the club said 'no problem'.
“From the first minute Roy Evans and I understood each other and it was brilliant. He told me straight away that Robbie Fowler was a fixed player and then he said, 'I have a really young player who is good', this was Michael Owen! On the first day I said to him, 'Roy, you should have told me he's not a good player, he's a massive player!’”
Riedle’s arrival did cause speculation over how it would affect Owen’s development with the Times suggesting “it will presumably keep Liverpool's most brilliant young prospect, the 17-year-old centre forward, Michael Owen, out of the team”. The young striker, who on this day was crowned the 2001 European Footballer of the Year, himself later admitting he too was initially concerned, saying: “He’d played for Germany millions of times, so I thought I’d never get in the first team – it was going to be Fowler and Riedle up top. That’s not how things turned out, though. I started the first game – at Wimbledon again – and played pretty much every match.”
Riedle and Owen were paired together with Fowler unavailable through injury against the infamous ‘Crazy Gang’ at a sun-broiled Selhurst Park and it proved a baptism of fire in more ways than one for the veteran German when he got a warm early welcome to English football from the Don’s notorious midfielder Vinny Jones.
“I only knew him by name and didn't know how important the reputation he enjoyed in England was,” Riedle recalled. “He was preceded by the call as a ‘butcher’. It took less than five minutes for me to have a foot of him on my face.”
Marcus Gayle’s free kick gave the home side the lead ten minutes into the second half and, with the Reds pushing for an equaliser, Riedle soon received another eye-opener as to the different type of football he was now involved in.
“There was a penalty area situation when the ball came in, a defender grappled in between, and I flew spectacularly over him. I lay on the ground as a dying swan and waited when suddenly my teammate Steve McManaman grabbed me, pulled me up and snorted, ‘boy, you can do that in f****** Germany!’ In England, even your own people intervene when someone tries a swallow.”
Riedle’s penalty area expertise came to Liverpool’s rescue twenty minutes from full time however with Owen showing his ice-cool temperament by converting a penalty the German did manage to win from Vinny Jones and the Guardian were fulsome in the praise afterwards over what the veteran brought to the side, writing: “Since Croydon is Dortmund with a water garden, it was hardly surprising that Riedle should look thoroughly at home. His first Premiership appearance was undramatic but he hardly lost a ball in the air and when he lost it on the ground his positioning and sense of anticipation often regaining possession in the next breath.”
The German’s home debut four days later was not as successful - a 2-1 defeat to Leicester City giving notice to the struggles which would mark much of the Reds’ campaign - but after an Owen solo strike secured a point at Blackburn Rovers, Riedle got off the mark for his new club in his fourth game with a sublime strike at Leeds United as Evans’ men recorded their first victory of the season, sealing a 2-0 win a quarter of an hour before time after Steve McManaman’s first-half opener by turning away from his marker and drifting a sublime 22-yard lob over goalkeeper Nigel Martyn to spare Liverpool their worst start to a season since 1911.
Further strikes against Southampton and Aston Villa the following month hinted Evans’ rebuild may yet bear fruit as the Reds moved up to sixth in the table but by the end of the following month the similar issues of defensive vulnerability and inconsistency which had stymied the previous two promising but flawed campaigns were rapidly becoming evident again, with a desperate Goodison derby defeat to an Everton side who would only avoid relegation on the final day of the season being followed a shocking 3-0 UEFA Cup away loss to French minnows Strasbourg. Riedle would score his fourth goal of the campaign in the second leg as Evans’ men tried in vain to turn round the tie and the German would not find the net again for another five months.
“The team was in upheaval,” Riedle admitted while revealing the different culture he was having to get used to. “With Paul Ince came a more experienced player from Inter Milan, there were a few older Norwegians, and we also had the male "Spice Girls" - Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen, Steve McManaman, and Jamie Redknapp, who joined the first team. They had huge respect for us. The young people cleaned our boots. Michael Owen cleaned mine for me in the first few weeks. But when he was firm with the professionals, he didn't have to do it anymore.
“Any concerns I had over settling in as a German were cleared after the first visit to the pub. I wanted to go for a drink with a friend in the days after signing the contract. We stood at a table, when an Englishman came along, put two beers and we were talking, ‘where are you from? What are you doing here?’ He didn't know me at all. I knew, ‘here you will be all right!’ In Liverpool, it was tradition that the initiation song was not at the beginning but sung at the legendary ‘Christmas party’. So I put on leather pants on Christmas and sang some song, "Take off the Bavarians's leather pants" or something. It was apparently so bad that countless beer glasses were emptied over my head after just 10 seconds. Baptism put an end to my singing. The problem was that the whole team later arrived in a bar, where everything was really taken care of: alcohol, good mood and also a few slightly covered ladies. Many of us have already been on the other side of good and evil. And in the ladies' accompaniment there was also a guy who filmed the whole series with a camera and later sold the recording to a Sunday newspaper. After that, there were never again these legendary ‘Christmas parties’ in Liverpool.
“Roy was like a father to us players. He made himself a fun part of it for a while - and then he let it go. Once I asked him before a game-free weekend if I could go to Germany overnight on Tuesday for my father’s birthday. Then he said, 'Karl, stay a week!' If he gave us three days off, half the players sat on the plane and jetted to Marbella for golf.”
By the time Riedle was back on the scoresheet in late March, Liverpool’s season - and in truth, Evans’ reign as manager - was limping towards the finishing line with the Reds way off the title pace being set by Arsenal and Manchester United, and domestic cup defeats to Coventry City and Middlesbrough have long since ended any hopes of silverware. A brace - the second of which was a 30-yard rocket into the top corner - in an eventful 3-2 win at Barnsley which saw the home side have three men sent off was not enough to win him a regular place in the side despite Fowler’s season-ending knee injury and there was only one further strike in a 4-1 defeat at Chelsea to leave him with a tally of seven goals in 34 appearances from his first season in English football as Evans’ side finished a distant third in the Premier League table.
A summer of change followed at Anfield with Frenchman Gerard Houllier being brought in to work alongside Evans in an unusual joint-manager role and Riedle would score the first goal of the pairing’s brief spell at the helm, powering home a header to equalise Egil Ostenstad’s opener at Southampton on the opening weekend of the season before strike partner Owen grabbed the winner. But the inevitable problems of the unconventional and unworkable managerial set-up soon reared their head - with a dispute over Riedle’s selection in a defeat at West Ham he ultimately came off the bench to score in said to be one of the first major fallings-out - and Evans left Anfield after the 35 years of service in the November to leave the Frenchman in sole charge.
With Fowler now available again after the serious knee injury he had suffered the previous February and Owen’s stock continuing to rise after his sensational performances at the previous summer’s World Cup, Riedle’s opportunities became more and more limited although he struck a fine brace shortly before new year as Liverpool fought back from two goals down against Newcastle to bring some much needed Christmas cheer to Anfield.
It would take Houllier some time though to instil the methods which ultimately revolutionised the club and helped bring it up to speed with the demands of the modern game. A heartbreaking late defeat at Manchester United in the fourth round of the FA Cup having led through Owen’s early goal for almost the entire match effectively ended the season in January and the rest of the campaign saw the Frenchman run the rule over his squad to identify who would be part of his revolution when it really got underway. A final league placing of seventh after a term in which Liverpool only won one league match than they lost (15 to 14) showed the scale of the rebuilding job necessary and with Riedle now only a few months short of his 34th birthday, it was clear the German would likely be deemed surplus to requirements.
A hamstring injury to Owen meant Riedle started the final seven games of the season, producing a smart assist for Ince as the Reds briefly threatened to derail Manchester United’s title bid by holding Alex Ferguson’s title-chasers to a 2-2 draw at Anfield, and the German scored in his final Liverpool appearance, a 3-0 last-day home victory against Wimbledon. It took his overall tally to 15 goals in 76 appearances during his two seasons at club and he went on to join Fulham, where the following campaign he was briefly made caretaker manager and worked with the man who had originally brought him to Anfield, Evans, before helping the Cottagers into the top flight and retiring from football in 2001.
Although no-one could claim Riedle’s time at Liverpool was an unmitigated triumph, the role his experience and professionalism provided during a time of great upheaval at Anfield should not be under-estimated particularly in terms of the example it set for the talented young players in the squad. And his pride at having played for the club he admired as a youngster as well as how well another of Dortmund’s favourite son’s has fared since taking over on Merseyside was very much evident when he assessed compatriot Klopp’s contribution to Liverpool.
He said: "Liverpool is the English counterpart to Borussia Dortmund. Emotions, fans, the whole set-up – there are not many comparable clubs. When you‘re looking for a new challenge and you receive an offer from Liverpool, you don’t have to think twice. It’s simply a cool club. Playing for Liverpool was unbelievable and memorable because they are such a big club. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there.
“The development under Klopp has been fantastic – similar to what happened in the early years in Dortmund. If you compare the amounts other clubs have spent to Jurgen’s investments and who he brought in for that money, he has done an absolutely great job.
“He fits in perfectly and they fit together 100 per cent. Klopp stands for straight ahead, high-speed football with dedication and emotion. That’s what people want to see at Liverpool. Like at Dortmund, they have a similar orientation in their enthusiasm for football; people sense immediately that football is like a religion to them.”
This article was first published in August 2022.
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