Jürgen Klopp has announced that he will step down as Liverpool manager this summer, ending a sensational nine-year period at the helm of the Reds, in which they reached three UEFA Champions League finals (victory in 2018/09) and in 2019/20 , having won his first English title in 30 years.
However, as he told UEFA.com, the German coach has some unfinished business in this competition, at a time when the Reds are fighting to reach this season’s UEFA Europa League final in Dublin. His team lost to Sevilla in the final in his first season, and the 56-year-old would love to put that right in his final campaign at Anfield.
Play in the Europa League Bracket!
About the Europa League
Last year, for most of the season, we didn’t think we could qualify for any European competition and we were delighted to be able to qualify for the Europa League. Therefore, we saw this competition as a priority from day one. It’s obviously a fantastic competition, historically and also for us. In my first year [no Liverpool]we qualified for the final and lost [3-1 com o Sevilha em 2016]. Now it is a test of our will and we would like to get there again, but for that to happen, we obviously have some very important steps ahead.
[A Europa League 2015/16] gave me the opportunity to return to [meu clube anterior] Dortmund very early. We played an exceptional game there [empate 1-1]. Divock Origi probably played the game of his life. Then, Dortmund played at our house and it was one of those games, one of the best I remember, along with a duel with Barcelona a few years later [recuperámos de uma desvantagem de 3-0 com uma vitória por 4-0 nas meias-finais da Champions League de 2018/19]. It was the first time we really realized what Anfield can do. To be losing [por 3-1] and then recover in the second part [para vencer por 4-3] It was super, super special. One of the best memories of my professional life.
The 2016 final against Sevilla
We had huge problems with injuries at that time. This was the 64th game of the season for us. An extremely intense time. Hendo [Jordan Henderson] was injured, along with other players. We couldn’t present our best eleven. When we play in a final we must have the best players on the field. We were unlucky and in the second half we ran out of fuel, and Sevilla, led by Unai Emery, a serial winner in the competition, came from behind.
We lost that game and it wasn’t good. I’m not sure how it would have turned out if we had won. I don’t think it would have been worse, but we used it in a good way. We were almost there, we didn’t take the last step but we really had the feeling that we were going back. We did that, obviously, with the Champions League finals but we never went back to the Europa League and now we have a unique opportunity.
2016 final summary: Sevilla 3-1 Liverpool
Liverpool’s summer signings
We all knew that Macca [Alexis Mac Allister] He was obviously an excellent player. Sun [Dominik Szoboszlai] Of all the young German offensive players he was “the” talent. Then we hired Wataru Endō. We were very lucky to get this signing because Wataru is a machine.
Classic Liverpool goals in the Jürgen Klopp era
How do you like your teams to play?
We are a very offensive team, but I am very detail-oriented when we talk about defensive organization. This is how it all starts, but we just want to be perfectly organized, perfectly protected, so that we can feel completely free for all offensive tasks. I don’t mention “pressure response” 25 times a day because I like the word. It’s because it’s the best way to win the ball back as quickly as possible but it’s obviously a defensive idea.
Being Liverpool we have to create, we have to be spectacular to give people what they give us [para nós]: all. This is what we try and what can lead us, in an ideal world, to all these goals.
Klopp with the runners-up medal after the 2016 Europa League final in BaselGetty Images