Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
He was smiling and positive ...we felt this was the start of something very special
BRAZILIAN ACE LUCAS ON FIRST TIME HE MET NEW BOSS KLOPP
IT was October 2015 and the few Liverpool players who were not away on international duty waited nervously in the physio room at the club’s old Melwood training ground to meet their new boss.
“Well, he was very tall,” said Lucas Leiva, when asked what was his first impression of Jurgen Klopp.
The German may have been imposing in size but he would go on to have a gargantuan impact on what was then a sleeping giant.
“He was smiling and very positive,” said the Brazilian midfielder. “From that moment we felt that something special was starting.”
Klopp was taking over from Brendan Rodgers. It was not a club in ruins but the buzz from a near-miss title challenge 17 months earlier had vanished.
“Of course Liverpool is a unique club, you feel like a real family,” said Lucas, who had moved to Merseyside in 2007. “At that time we felt we were kind of losing that unity and spirit, but he put everything together.
“He put together the staff that work there every day, the security, the people who do the food, he brought back unity. That was important.”
Liverpool stars slowly started to return from international duty and preparations ramped up for Klopp’s opening game – a trip to Tottenham.
“Of course we had a lot of doubts, not about him but how he would change things,” said Lucas about the 0-0 draw. Without a transfer window, he knew he had to start the rebuild with the players already in place. So the senior figures were called together.
“He listened a lot,” said Lucas. “Until he really put in his way of playing, his style, he wanted to make us feel comfortable. He changed the system and spoke with a few of us and asked us what formation we would feel comfortable with.”
There were ups and downs in that first season as Klopp slowly started to change their style.
Liverpool lost the League Cup final to Manchester City in February before defeat by Sevilla in the Europa League final in May (below). But that night, in a hotel in Basel, Klopp told the players to attend a post-match party despite a 3-1 defeat.
“Everyone wanted to go to their rooms, rest, and sleep,” said Lucas. “But he brought us all together and said it wasn’t a failure, it was really important to stick together.
“That mood, that energy created at that party was important as well for the next season and the following seasons. But a lot of things I don’t remember because I had a good night!”
The spirit forged over a few liquid spirits would help Liverpool qualify for the Champions League the following season.
Lucas would depart at the end of the 201617 campaign, having seen his playing time reduced but still having played a pivotal role in helping Liverpool back among Europe’s elite.
So, even though he was at Lazio as the trophies started to arrive on Merseyside, he felt part of the success.
“The first two years, he set a platform and the players who started with him had a big part to play,” he said.
Forced to retire last year while back with Gremio in his homeland due to a heart complication, Lucas is now an ambassador for the Reds.
In a cruel twist, floods which have ravaged the area he lives in Brazil means his local airport is closed and he cannot make the trip to Liverpool this Sunday as Klopp bids farewell to Anfield after nine years.
But one day soon he hopes to have a drink with the Liverpool boss again.
No doubt the architect of Liverpool’s revival will oblige.