Ragnar Klavan first experienced playing at Anfield little over seven years ago.
Then in his fourth season with FC Augsburg, he started for the Bundesliga side as they lost 1-0 to Liverpool in the Europa League courtesy of an early James Milner penalty in February 2016. Little did he know that five months later he would be a Reds player himself.
The Estonian would make 53 appearances during two seasons at Anfield, scoring two goals, before departing for Serie A side Cagliari. His final senior involvement with the club would be the Champions League final loss to Real Madrid in Kiev.
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Now 37, the centre-back returned to Liverpool for the first time since his 2018 exit as he started for the Legends in their 2-0 victory over Celtic. The first player signed by Jurgen Klopp to feature for the veterans, for Klavan it was like he had never been away.
“Time flies. It’s been four and a half years I think but it feels like it was yesterday,” he said in an exclusive interview with the ECHO. “It’s really amazing and great to come back here.
“I think, if I’m not wrong, then maybe I’m Jurgen’s first legend? I might be, yes. It’s something special and I’m really happy to be back here again.”
Before his Legends outing, Klavan last played for Estonian side Paide Linnameeskond in September 2022, having returned to his homeland after leaving Cagliari the year before. But the defender hasn’t actually officially retired, far from it. While he was happy to represent Liverpool Legends, he’s not ruled out the possibility of pulling on his boots competitively once again.
“Actually I don’t know myself as well,” he said when asked if facing Celtic was a trial for his next move or a final swansong. “At the moment, I haven’t played for around five months.
“When I had the opportunity to participate in this Legends game, I was happy to do it. What will the future bring? I don’t know.”
On the evidence of his performance against Celtic, Klavan certainly isn’t doomed to retirement just yet. The Estonian was the best player on the pitch by far and swiftly traded his natural centre-back role to a left wing-back berth as the Reds made use of his legs up the flanks.
In truth, it seems quite surreal that a Klopp signing is already turning out for Liverpool Legends. After all, as Klavan said himself, it feels like only yesterday when he was turning out for the Reds.
Granted, he was 31 when making his move to Anfield. A virtual unknown to Kopites, eyebrows were inevitably raised at his £4.2m arrival. He remains the only outfield player over the age of 30 to have been signed by Klopp at Liverpool.
Yet he soon became a cult-hero at Anfield as supporters quickly took to him. It was certainly a very different feeling to what he had felt when facing the Reds with Augsburg.
“Anfield is, if you’re an opponent, a really scary place to be because of all the fans,” he said when recalling that appearance for the Bundesliga outfit. “It’s a special atmosphere happening here and that doesn’t make things easier as an opponent.”
Five months later and Klavan was an opponent no longer. The Estonian couldn’t believe it as he put pen to paper, and reveals he initially thought he was being pranked when first holding talks with Klopp.
“I didn’t think I would be a Liverpool player, no,” he admitted. “I think it all happened because before Liverpool I was playing in the Bundesliga and Jurgen and his coaching staff had seen me for a few years.
“When I heard about the interest from Liverpool and then when the deal was done, it is a feeling that I cannot describe. It was really amazing. It’s a special club and there wasn’t any other thought in my head other than Liverpool.
“I think my first conversation with Jurgen was via phone. In the beginning, I thought somebody was prank-calling me. So he stopped the phone call and sent a selfie and then I believed him!”
Klavan would made headlines in England two years ago when he was quoted on an Estonian podcast suggesting that Klopp and Liverpool vice-captain Milner had once nearly had a fight in the dressing room during his first season at Anfield. The German would later dismiss such a suggestion, insisting it was a ‘massive misunderstanding’.
Asked to clarify his recollection of events, Klavan put the suggestion of a fight down to a poor translation as he lifted the lid on the emotions in the Liverpool dressing room at the time.
“I think it was translated from an Estonian podcast, and the translation wasn’t a very good one!” he said. “I didn’t say it was a fight. What I told them was there were some moments when things get heated up.
“But that shows that everybody wants to win and everybody has those emotions to help the team and go forward. So it’s not like how it was suggested that there was a fight.
“When you have a lot of emotions and energy in one room, then things will happen. But it will always happen for a good cause and for the benefit of the team.”
Of course, it was that winning mentality that would see Liverpool reach the 2018 Champions League final. And while they would ultimately lose to Real Madrid in Kiev, such an attitude also led to the Reds bouncing back to win every major honour on offer to them in the years that followed.
In truth, it needed to given the setbacks they suffered in Kiev. Sergio Ramos would infamously force Mohamed Salah off with a shoulder injury in the first half, while is believed to have contributed to Loris Karius’ concussion that resulted in the German making two costly mistakes.
And while Klavan would leave Anfield the same summer, he reveals the belief and hunger was already there that Klopp’s Liverpool would recover from such adversity and soon go one better and start winning silverware.
“I think straight after the game there was already that mindset and energy,” he said. “We tasted the Champions League final and of course everybody was sad. But they all wanted it.
“If you lose in a Champions League final, the mood is not a great one. But I think it helped to build the character to come back next time even stronger.
“There were talks about it (Ramos injuring Salah and Karius), and all those things that happened. But it was not something we used as an excuse.
“It was something that happened in a game. Whatever happens, that is the situation and that was it. We all said to Loris that it was just one game. With everybody, it could happen. He was part of our team and that is football.
“In life, there are always ups and downs. It depends how you’re going to react as a team and the team reacted really well. They were even more hungry the next year.”
Klavan’s move to Cagliari meant he missed out on the Champions League win 2019, along with all the other silverware that followed as the Reds won every major honour and were crowned champions of England, Europe and the world.
Reflecting on his decision to leave Liverpool, the Estonian insists it was the right move for him at the time as he shared his delight at what his former team-mates went on to achieve.
“There were different reasons for why I left,” he said. “Everybody makes their own decisions. At the time when you make a decision, it is always the right decision.
“You can always look back, whenever it is, but at that moment I made a decision and it was the right decision for me.
“I think I was watching (the Champions League final) at home and I was so happy for them! In Kiev, when we lost that game, there was already the mentality in the team that they wanted to come back. They did and they did really well.”
While Klavan’s Liverpool career might have lasted just two seasons, he played alongside many great players with a number of them playing crucial roles for Klopp’s side to this day. Yet it was one man who also departed on the eve of such success that was the standout for the Estonian - Philippe Coutinho.
“There are so many names to choose from, but I still remember Coutinho’s year when he was really, really on fire,” he recalled. “Some things he did in training were incredible, incredible things.
“So for me, it’s Coutinho in his last year when he was here. He was something special. I tried to (kick him) but he just got away! He was really on fire.”
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