Kop that! Liverpool ready for new golden era under Klopp
LONDON: Fuelled by Mohamed Salah’s astonishing feats and inspired by Jurgen Klopp’s tactical mastery, Liverpool are ready to launch a new golden era after sealing their return to the Champions League final.
For the first time in 11 years, Liverpool have reached the showpiece of Europe’s elite club competition as a dramatic 4-2 defeat against Roma in Wednesday’s semi-final second leg clinched an incredible 7- 6 aggregate success.
Rome was the perfect setting for Liverpool’s return to splendour after the Eternal City played host to the club’s 1977 and 1984 European Cup triumphs.
If Liverpool beat holders Real Madrid in the final in Kiev on May 26, they will celebrate the first silverware of Jurgen Klopp’s three-year reign on the grandest stage of all.
For Klopp, getting his hands on the Champions League trophy would be concrete proof his Red revolution has been worth all the blood, sweat and tears.
And it would be fitting for the 50-year- old German to enjoy a breakthrough moment at the same age as the godfather of the modern Liverpool.
Bill Shankly was also 50 when the first truly iconic manager in Liverpool’s illustrious history served notice he had created a burgeoning dynas t y on Merseyside.
Under the Scottish manager, Liverpool became Engl ish champions in 1964 after a 17-year gap.
Liverpool won the title three times under Shankly and also collected two FA Cups and a UEFA Cup – the club’s first European trophy–as his magnetic personality and fierce will to win fulfilled his dream of turning the club into “a bastion of invincibility”.
Building on the foundations put in place by Shankly, Liverpool went on to dominate Europe for the next decade.
The thought of emulating that generational success at such a historic club lured Klopp – who possesses the same charismatic character as Shankly – to follow in his footsteps at Liverpool in 2015.
Winning Liverpool’s sixth European Cup would rank Klopp alongside Anfield immortals Shankly, Bob Paisley and Kenny Dalglish.
Ray Clemence, the legendary Liverpool goalkeeper who played under Shankly, sees some uncanny similarities between Klopp and his former boss.
“I thought Shankly was a one-off, but then I’d have to say that Klopp is the nearest thing,” Clemence said. “The relationship Klopp has with the players and fans, it is exactly what Shankly had.
“He pulled the club together so it was one strong unit and Klopp has revived that.”
Regardless of whether he leaves the Ukraine empty-handed, Klopp knows this season has confirmed Liverpool’s emergence as genuine contenders at last.
Liverpool have gone 28 years without winning the English title, a barren run that has often seen them written off as a faded force rendered obsolete by the vast wealth of Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea.
When Liverpool last won the Champions League in 2005, their miraculous comeback from three goals down in the final against AC Milan obscured the pedestrian nature of Rafael Benitez’s side.
Aside from Steven Gerrard, Xabi Alonso and Jamie Carragher, the heroes of Istanbul were largely inconsistent journeymen. Liverpool finished a whopping 37 points behind Premier League champions Chelsea that year.
Ger rard , who capt a ined Liverpool to that 2005 victory, said Klopp has made the difference: “This manager has got them flying, if they go one step further this could be the start of something special. I think they’re on the verge of something really good.”
Klopp’s men might be 21 points adrift of Manchester City this season but the gap between third- placed Liverpool and the champions appears far less daunting than it did 13 years ago.
Liverpool are one of only two teams to inflict a league defeat on City this season, a 4- 3 victory at Anfield that saw Pep Guardiola’s defence torn apart by the rampant Reds. Even more encouragingly, Liverpool overwhelmed City in the Champions League quarterfinals, blitzing them 3- 0 at Anfield and then giving a masterclass in game management to take the second leg 2-1.
With 43 goals and 15 assists in 49 appearances in all competitions, Egypt winger Salah has been the driving force behind Liverpool’s renaissance.
Ditched by Chelsea af ter struggling in his first spell in English football, Salah has been reborn under Klopp since joining from Roma for £ 34 million ( US$ 46 million) last year.
The German has astutely deployed the majestic 25-yearold in a role that allows him to do damage from both wide and central areas as part of a threepronged attack alongside Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane.
Crucially, Klopp’s decision to reinvest the cash from Philippe Coutinho’s transfer to Barcelona on powerful centre- back Virgil van Dijk has added much-needed solidity to Liverpool’s defence.
Klopp has already proved he can overthrow an established superpower after leading Borussia Dortmund to the Bundesliga title despite the constant threat from Bayern Munich.
Restoring his team’s domestic supremacy is next season’s target but for now Klopp, Salah and the rest of the Liverpool heroes can dream of reigning supreme in Europe. — AFP
ROMA: Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has said his team will be “on fire” for the Champions League final in Kiev as they look to stop an experience Real Madrid side from winning a third consecutive European title.
The Merseyside club will feature in their eighth European Cup final on May 26 after beating AS Roma 7- 6 on aggregate in the semi-final on Wednesday.
I see no trophies after these games. They don’t hang silver medals at Melwood. That’s a pity, but that’s the game. There’s still a job to do. Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool manager
I t h a nd s L ive r p o ol a n opportunity to end their six-year trophy drought and lift their first piece of silverware under Klopp’s management, having lost the finals of the League Cup and Europa League in 2016.
“We were in a League Cup final and didn’t win it,” Klopp told reporters.
“People don’t tell me in the street since then: ‘ Thank you for bringing us to the final.’ We were in the Europa League final too. Nobody tells me thank you.
“I see no trophies after these games. They don’t hang silver medals at Melwood. That’s a pity, but that’s the game. There’s still a job to do.”
Roma fell behind to an early goal by Liverpool’s Sadio Mane but equalised through a fortunate own goal from James Milner.
Georginio Wijnaldum put the Premier League side back ahead on the night but Roma, needing four goals to level the tie, fought back in the second half through Edin Dzeko and Nainggolan’s late double.
It was not quite enough to send Roma through to their first European Cup final since 1984 when they lost to Liverpool in their own stadium.
Madrid, who overcame Bayern Munich in the other semi-final, return to the final for the fourth time in last five years.
Zinedine Zidane’s side have retained a core group of players including Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos, Luka Modric and Karim Benzema, who have all been involved in lifting their last three European titles in 2014, 2016 and 2017.
“You cannot be more experienced in this competition than Real Madrid,” the German manager added.
“I think 80 per cent of their team played all these finals. They are four times in the last five years and still together.
“They are experienced, we are not, but we will be really on fire.” — Reuters