The footballing world was rocked by the shock announcement last week that Jurgen Klopp is to leave Liverpool at the end of the season, after eight and a half years in charge of the Merseyside club.
In that time, Klopp has won practically everything there is to win as Liverpool manager, collecting seven trophies with the prospect of even more to come this season.
That haul includes a sixth European trophy and a first ever Premier League title for the Reds during the pandemic, after a 30-year drought on home soil.
Some moments were more pivotal than others in paving that success and we’ve picked out five instances which defined Jurgen Klopp’s tenure as Liverpool manager.
5. Liverpool 4-3 Borussia Dortmund (Europa League Quarter Final, Anfield) – 14th April 2016
After taking over from Brendan Rodgers in October 2015, it didn’t take long for Klopp to make an impact with Liverpool. Along with guiding them to a League Cup final appearance within his first six months in charge, he also oversaw a run to the Europa League final in Basel, where they would eventually lose out to Sevilla.
A crucial moment in that run came in the quarter finals against Klopp’s former club Borussia Dortmund. With the scores level at 1-1 from the first leg in Germany, Liverpool found themselves 3-1 down thanks to goals from Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Marco Reus.
The fact that Dortmund had three away goals in hand with a mere half an hour left to play meant Liverpool were all but out of the tournament, but goals from Philippe Coutinho and Mamadou Sakho gave them hope, before Dejan Lovren’s injury-time header lifted the roof off Anfield.
It is undoubtedly one of Liverpool’s greatest European comebacks, but aside from being a fantastic spectacle it also gave Klopp an early opportunity to show his side could produce the goods on big European nights – a staple ingredient in any formula for success on Merseyside.
4. Liverpool 7-0 Manchester United (Premier League, Anfield) – 5th March 2023
The 2022-23 season certainly wasn’t a vintage one by Klopp’s high standards and alongside eventually finishing outside of the Champions League places, there were also the early signs of a Manchester United resurgence under Erik ten Hag.
United had swept aside Newcastle to win the Carabao Cup the previous week and were sitting comfortably inside the top four ahead of a visit to their arch-rivals. Meanwhile, Liverpool had been recently humbled 5-2 at home by Real Madrid in the Champions League, meaning there were genuine fears that United could pick up a first league win at Anfield for seven years.
There would be no changing of the guard however as Liverpool produced the perfect performance, one which would go down as one as Klopp’s best.
Surprisingly for such a one-sided contest it was only 1-0 at the break, but the floodgates would quickly open, with each of Cody Gakpo, Darwin Nunez and Mo Salah all sealing braces, before Roberto Firmino sealed United’s humiliation late on.
3. Tottenham Hotspur 0-2 Liverpool (Champions League Final, Madrid) – 1st June 2019
You would be forgiven for thinking that a maiden European title would rank as Klopp’s finest moment in charge of Liverpool, particularly when you consider that he was beaten in his first three European finals in charge of Borussia Dortmund (2013 Champions League final) and Liverpool (2016 Europa League final and the 2018 Champions League final) respectively.
It certainly was a big moment for Klopp as it ended a run of six straight final defeats (not counting the German Super Cup) to give him his first trophy as Liverpool manager. It was made even sweeter by the fact it came on the biggest stage of them all, 12 months on from their agonising defeat to a Gareth Bale-inspired Real Madrid in the 2018 final.
It fulfilled Klopp’s promise of delivering silverware within four years for the Reds, but the match itself was something of a damp squib for neutrals, with Liverpool quickly taking control of matters thanks to Mo Salah’s early penalty.
Spurs struggled to make an impact throughout and Divock Origi made things safe three minutes from time to provide Liverpool with their sixth European title. It would prove to be the foundations for a stellar era for Klopp, who would go on to collect a further six trophies at the time of writing.
2. Signing Virgil Van Dijk from Southampton – 1st January 2018
A case can certainly be made for using this part of the article to instead eulogise about the signings of either Alisson Becker or a certain Mohamed Salah, but the arrival of Virgil Van Dijk from Southampton in January 2018 was a pivotal moment in the evolution of Klopp’s Liverpool.
It feels ridiculous to write now, but the fee of £75 million – a world record at the time – for a centre back from a struggling side felt a little rash when it was announced, but Van Dijk quickly established himself as the best defender in the Premier League.
It was the signing which arguably led to Klopp completing the puzzle with Liverpool, as they almost overnight transformed themselves from a notoriously leaky side at the back to one of the hardest to break down in Europe.
Arguably it was Alisson’s arrival in the summer of 2018 which truly led to the eureka moment, but it would not have been possible without Van Dijk, who finished second in the 2019 Ballon d’Or after playing a key part in the side that became European champions for a sixth time.
1. Liverpool 4-0 FC Barcelona (Champions League Semi Final, Anfield) – 7th May 2019
It’s rare that a semi-final victory ranks above success in the biggest final in club football, but Klopp’s maiden title as Liverpool manager wouldn’t have been possible without a truly remarkable night at Anfield in May 2019.
The Reds looked set to fall at a late hurdle to Spanish opposition for the second year running, as they faced the near-impossible task of over-turning a 3-0 deficit to a Lionel Messi-inspired FC Barcelona side. Add in the fact that talismanic forwards Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino were missing through injury and the prospect just seemed ridiculous.
Barcelona had shown the impossible was achievable in 2017 when overturning a 4-0 defeat to Paris Saint Germain with a 6-1 success at the Nou Camp and there certainly seemed to be something in the air that week, as Tottenham had pulled off a remarkable comeback win in Amsterdam to reach the final against Ajax the night before.
Scoring four goals at home to the runaway Spanish champions still felt highly unlikely, but two second half goals that were just 122 seconds apart from Georginio Wijnaldum gave Liverpool hope after Divock Origi’s first half opener.
Barcelona were rocked and what followed next was a moment of pure inspiration from Trent Alexander-Arnold, who caught the visitors napping from a quickly taken corner. Origi was the fastest to react with a close-range finish and Liverpool were in delirium.
Whether this comeback usurped the three-goal miracle in Istanbul in 2005 is a debate for another time, but there can be no doubt that this was the moment that led to Klopp’s golden era.
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