Klopp on way to carving out his own slice of history
Lifting European Cup would enable Liverpool to escape constant references to Istanbul
The average is three. Sometimes you might wait until number five. This is not just the number of goals in each Liverpool game in 2018 – a feat there was no compulsion to match in this pedestrian second leg – but the number of questions in an Anfield Champions League press conference before somebody references Istanbul.
“Can Liverpool do what they did in 2005?”
Players and manager will be rehearsed in their response after this exercise in game control against Porto.
Liverpool’s history is a stalker, and now they are back in the quarter-finals the reminders of what has gone before become more frequent.
In fairness, chanting about Istanbul was the only way to keep entertained in a monotonous second leg, the tie already won.
But there are occasions you suspect Jurgen Klopp would willingly impose a restraining order on the club’s past as he seeks to inspire the next generation without sensing the heavy breath of those who tread a glorious path before.
Reducing Anfield Euro nights to testimonial pace is certainly a break with tradition– the lack of tension here inevitable with Liverpool protecting a 5-0 lead.
So, too, is the luxury of resting star players such as Mohamed Salah for much of the game. It is another example of how this Liverpool side have far more quality and depth than the side who actually won the competition under Rafa Benitez.
Anfield’s honours board is more assistance than hindrance, of course. The romantic tales of yore are fundamental to Liverpool’s ability to lure. Without it you could argue coaches of Klopp’s ilk would not be at the club.
That does not also mean it is not – just occasionally – a pain in the backside to those seeking to create their own European memories. Whenever Klopp is asked about
replicating Benitez’s team, one is put in mind of how the Spaniard felt when asked if he could repeat Gerard Houllier’s treble-winning season. Or how Houllier responded when quizzed on the difficulties of recreating the 1980s, 70s and 60s. Both were uninterested and sometimes irked by it, but were able to make the step from history-chaser to history-maker.
Both are now guaranteed the VIP seat on the nostalgia trips, but they will empathise with Klopp. He, too, is obsessed with doing it his way. Istanbul has its place in the club museum and every May 25 celebrated for what it meant then and what it will always mean to those who revelled in it, but it has no bearing on whether this Liverpool team will win the club’s sixth European Cup.
Liverpudlians are masters of storytelling and, as Houllier and Benitez demonstrated in 2001 and 2005, visionaries are not interested in repeats. They created something fresh and dynamic, standing alone from what had gone.
The attention now turns to the quarter-final, Klopp and Liverpool asked to consider which side they would most like to avoid. A raucous Anfield will be bottom of the wanted list of every other side. That was not the case with a weaker team that achieved the improbable 13 years ago.
Klopp, inevitably, will dutifully and deferentially acknowledge the reminders of Istanbul every time he walks on to that Uefa stage.
But he will be maintaining the finest traditions of Liverpool’s heritage by glancing over his shoulder with little more than respectful, ceremonial curiosity.
He is far more interested in ensuring the Liverpool flag flies at another Champions League final venue, giving his players and fans another topic of conversation – Kiev in 2018.