It won’t be the same without him but he made certain it’s Liverpool again

Even if one were to disregard the small mountain of trophies, if one chose to look past the two Carabao Cups, the FA Cup, the Club World Cup, the first English title of the Premier League era and even the UEFA Champions League triumph, the audacity of that absurd Anfield conquest of Lionel Messi on a damp evening in May 2019 would conspicuously define Jurgen Klopp’s period as Liverpool FC manager.

There was anti-climax at work in the ultimate acquisition of many of those precious titles. In the 2019 Champions League final, Liverpool’s pivotal goal arrived in the first few minutes on an odd penalty many still debate. In sweeping England’s major cup competitions in 2022, LFC did not score a single goal across 240 minutes and won both in penalty shootouts. When the 2019/20 team ended the club’s title drought with one of the most dominant seasons the Premier League has seen, the Reds were forced to wait more than three months to resume play after the COVID-19 shutdown and clinched the title when runners-up Manchester City lost at Chelsea. They weren’t even on the field for their most important triumph.

That night against Barcelona, though, was so glorious it will endure as long as the club. And as LFC fans remember the work of Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley and Kenny Dalglish, they will recall how Klopp restored that degree of glory.

Klopp will work his final game at Anfield, his final game as Liverpool manager, as the 2023/24 Premier League season concludes on Sunday against Wolves. When Klopp announced in late January his decision to depart the club at the conclusion of the season, it seemed possible that date would arrive later and with even more titles at stake or in tow. That dream finish did not manifest, instead the loathed other reds from up the M62 ruining both the FA Cup and the possibility of a second league title. The last game will be a farewell, only.

And maybe Klopp deserves the focus to be entirely upon him. Maybe a departure that doesn’t end in triumph can be just as fulfilling.

“Saying goodbye without feeling hurt or sad would just mean the time you had was not right,” Klopp told reporters at his farewell news conference. “I know it will be tough.”

Not even almost nine seasons – that’s the whole of Klopp’s time at Liverpool. It feels longer because it contains so much. In that period, there were four major European finals, four league title challenges, four domestic cup finals. Because not all of those ended in victory, some analysts have attempted to diminish his accomplishments. Hey, not all analysis is worthwhile.

“Mentality giants,” Klopp called his players back in 2019, after they recovered from a 3-0 road defeat in the first game of the Barcelona series with a 4-0 home comeback that included a clinching goal from Divock Origi on a quickly, cleverly taken corner kick by Trent Alexander-Arnold that caught every Barca player preoccupied.

Actually, Klopp used a memorable (but unprintable) modifier as part of that compliment.

“The whole performance and the whole game was actually too much. It was overwhelming,” he told BT Sport that night. “I actually said to the boys before the game that it would be impossible, but because it’s you, we have a chance.

“I’ve watched so many football games in my life and I cannot remember a lot like this, playing against maybe the best team in the world …

“I saw James Milner crying after the game on the pitch, it means so much to all of us. You could see the faces in the stadium. It’s the best place for football. There are more important things in the world, but creating this atmosphere together is so special.”