At the club for less than four years, and Jürgen Klopp is already an icon at Liverpool.
The German manager turned things around relatively quickly and smoothly after taking over, which all culminated in this summer’s Champions League triumph against Tottenham.
Coming back from a 3-0 deficit against Barcelona to qualify for the final, Klopp’s men enthralled neutrals and Liverpool fans alike with their return display at Anfield, showcasing how important the competition is to the club all the while just missing out on the domestic title to Manchester City.
This is an angle Jamie Carragher was asked a lot about in an interview with France Football this week, who dedicated a large chunk of their magazine to the Premier League club.
In fact, it’s this love for European competitions that make Liverpool stand out for the former centre-back and it’s something other clubs, like Manchester City, are yet to fully grasp.
He said: “In Italy, the biggest team are Juventus, the club who have won the most titles, but ask English people who, according to them, is the biggest Italian club, and many will tell you Milan because of what the club represents in the history of the European cup that Juventus haven’t won since 1996.
“To take a recent example, I don’t think that Manchester City understand what Europe means. If you speak to fans, you’ll see they still prefer to win the league than the Champions League, but when you see what happened at Liverpool this summer, it’s so obvious that the European cup is far more important. It’s huge. Wherever you go, someone will talk to you about Liverpool.”
However, Carragher was also very aware that despite all this love for European competitions, what the Anfield faithful really want these days is the Premier League title since they haven’t won their domestic league since 1990.
And if they continue the way they have started this year, then perhaps the 2019-20 season is the year they finally do it after a 30 year wait.
If they manage to pull that off, then it’ll be back to focusing on matching Milan’s seven titles before aiming for Real Madrid’s 13.
Jamie Carragher | Pundit explains how Liverpool FC partly responsible for city’s high Remain vote.
“I don’t doubt it for one second. We have always had this mystique of elsewhere. It’s the presence of the sea, being an island on the island.”https://t.co/j0iOD61cf3 #lfc
— Sport Witness (@Sport_Witness) November 4, 2019