Phase one complete for Klopp, now for the grand stage
Owners and manager must keep moving forward to return the club to the top table
So often Champions League qualification has been defined as a ‘game-changer’ at Anfield. For only the second time in eight years, Liverpool have given themselves the opportunity to show precisely how their game has changed.
When they were last in the group stages in 2014, the most valuable asset had been sold to Barcelona, and despite lavish promises about attracting the most alluring names, none of the subsequent recruits were particularly coveted by Champions League rivals. Such were the retrograde steps, Brendan Rodgers eventually lost his job.
Fast forward to the present day, and Liverpool thrillingly reclaimed their place amid ongoing attempts by Barcelona to secure their most prize asset, and despite plentiful bids for high-class players the list of reasons for the Merseyside club being unable to secure their targets has so far been extended.
The remaining days in this transfer window cannot be spent dining out on this notable and pivotal success, but focused on ensuring they build on it. “It is a big influence in the transfer market,” Klopp admitted. “If you talk to a player they will say, ‘If you are playing Champions League it will be interesting’, or even if you want to extend a player’s contract.”
In previous years, securing this place has often seemed built around an obsession about the financial consequences of Champions League participation. Not this time. While the economic benefits are undoubtedly significant, there was more at stake here. It was not just about the money for Liverpool.
This time it is more about prestige, status, and proving they truly belong with those clubs once considered peers. To repel the attempts of Barcelona to derail progress, it is necessary for Liverpool to occupy the same stage. Wherever he was watching, there must have been a twitch in the limbs of Philippe Coutinho – wishing he was out there in a majestic first half – to rival those spasms in his back and the itchiness in his feet.
Liverpool, lest we forget, once perceived themselves a natural rival of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Barcelona – who they have beaten in European finals and semi-finals. Liverpool have been left enviously looking at what was once theirs, and at the mistakes that put them in exile.
It is no coincidence the eroding of their Champions League status came during a period when Javier Mascherano and Luis Suarez felt their services would be more handsomely rewarded elsewhere. In this context, Barcelona’s pursuit of Coutinho serves as a meaningful test case as much as the examination posed by Hoffenheim. What Barcelona and those expressing incredulity at Liverpool’s refusal to blink at rising bids fail to grasp is the symbolism of the resistance.
To allow Coutinho to go now would not only undermine immediate and long-term aspirations, but Liverpool’s vision of themselves. It would suggest nothing is changing under Fenway Sports Group.
There may be times when clubs are powerless to prevent a disgruntled player departing, but when they have the resolve to prevent it, it is fundamental an elite club show their teeth. Barcelona ought to know this rather than persist in trying to make their problem replacing Neymar Liverpool’s in replacing Coutinho. Again, it is not about money. It is about where Liverpool are heading.
That said, for Liverpool to act like an elite club they have to be among the elite. There has never been any doubt Anfield is a Champions League venue, and some of the football played by this side will decorate the competition.
“It means everything to be there,” said Klopp, who began his post-match briefing with: “Yippee”.
“It is what the club and the team worked for in the last 14 months. It is so exciting to be part of it. It is three years since I was there. I love it, the players love it and the fans love it. We will have fantastic nights at Anfield.”
Champions League qualification represents the end of the beginning of Klopp’s reign. Wherever they land in Europe, it is guaranteed to be entertaining seeing what happens next.
For Liverpool to act like a member of the elite, they have to take their place among them