Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has slowly lifted the 18 times Premier League winners from perennial league strugglers to something else totally different, the club is now fighting with who is who in Europe and that is what the manager is out for, getting them to their former glory.
For Jurgen Klopp, this season has been about far, far more than the simple pursuit of trophies. It is about restoring the legend of Liverpool.
Tuesday night against Barcelona did that. He is certain. So when he says: “A moment like this is worth more than silverware,” it is not an excuse, or an apology.
Even in transforming the club from the quivering imposter he inherited a club that had been in the Champions League once in seven years – the accusation that it means nothing because he’s won nothing has constantly been leveled.
He knows that, but he knows there is a bigger picture. When he arrived, Liverpool were broken. As a world name, they were trading on history, not results or performances, and he had to fix that.
Now, as they enter the final weekend of the Premier League season with 94 points and still a chance of becoming Champions, with a place in the Champions’ League final secured for a second successive season, Klopp believes he has, no matter what happens on Sunday.
“This season has been a year full of wonderful moments, wonderful moments altogether. Looking forward to games, enjoying games and last Tuesday was like the icing on the cake so far,” he explained.
“Wow. That’s exactly the picture we want to draw for the outside world this is Liverpool. (It says) It’s possible here, it’s possible in this club and in this city with the people around. That’s the picture.
“If you struggle in a game, they hit the post and the bar but you win it, that’s good for looking back and saying ‘that year we won it and oh we were lucky’. It’s a nice story but it doesn’t help with development.
“That’s why it is worth more than silverware develop as far and as high as possible so it gets more and more likely that you win silverware and that’s what we’ve done so far.”
Klopp has qualified for three straight Champions League after so long in the wilderness, two straight finals. And the miracle of Anfield offers the chance of a trophy of course, even if Manchester City ’s ridiculous quality and consistency denies them on Sunday.
Yet if it doesn’t, he will be satisfied. With his team, obviously, who could well produce the third best season in the history of English top flight football and still not win the title. But in himself too.
Ingenious from @trentaa98. 👌
Brilliant from Divock. 🔥The goal that clinched us the tie… from EVERY angle. 🙌 pic.twitter.com/Jqc1QV2J7L
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) May 10, 2019
“All I can do is my best and I am 100 per cent sure about myself. I do my best. It’s not perfect because it’s me but it’s my best and I cannot do more,” he said with a shy smile.
“Now we go to a final and we’ll play it, learn from the past few years and see what we can do there.
“Sunday is our last Premier League game, if we can win it, it’s not in our hands what we get for that but it doesn’t make our season a little bit less good. It’s just a different finish.”
Win or not, they are a force in Europe, one that had Barcelona genuinely scared. They are the team no one in the Champions’ League wants to draw. Yet Klopp says it’s still only the start.
He will not rest after this epic season, he will not be satisfied. He wants more from his team next time. He wants perfection. “Results-wise I don’t think we could be better It would mean 100 points and we all know how difficult that is.
“But performance-wise of course we can do better. In a lot of moments. Not only in the games we drew. In some games we created chances and didn’t use them. In others we didn’t create many chances but we used them.
“We just have to create chances, that’s what we always have to do, so we can improve performance-wise. We proved that a lot this season but we can still improve.
“Consistency. Being con
sist
ent is one thing, staying consistent is another. We have to stay consistent for the last two games and the next few years.
“That is another challenge for us but one we are going to face. There is room for improvement for us for sure. You cannot rest in football, ever.”
“Consistency. Being consistent is one thing, staying consistent is another. We have to stay consistent for the last two games and the next few years.
“That is another challenge for us but one we are going to face. There is room for improvement for us for sure. You cannot rest in football, ever.”
It is a frightening prospect that may make even Pep Guardiola flinch. And when Klopp says it, the look in his eye tells you he believes it.