There might be a couple of jobs for a handyman at Liverpool’s training centre next week.
First on the list, boss Jurgen Klopp hopes, will be to change the giant wooden ‘9’ beneath a League Cup silhouette along a wall honouring the Reds’ trophy triumphs to a ‘10’.
Next up could be an addition to the montage of pictures, motivational quotes and detailed descriptions of famous matches in the club’s history, an awe-inspiring corridor leading up to the Melwood Lounge at the AXA Training Centre in Kirkby.
Speaking with no hint of tongue-in-cheek, a laidback, candid Klopp opened up on how he sees beating Luton on Wednesday as right up there with famous European nights, from Madrid to Manchester and toppling Barcelona.
Liverpool are preparing for their Carabao Cup final showdown against Chelsea this Sunday
It comes off the back of their 4-1 victory over Luton on Wednesday, with Jurgen Klopp labelling their performance in turning the game around as one of the best displays of his Anfield tenure
The reason for his pride was the way Liverpool overcame an injury crisis which plunged Anfield into a pit of anxiety when the team-sheet dropped.
Klopp felt the way his troops responded was one of the highlights of his two decades in management — and his celebrations said it all.
‘You can make of my celebrations what you want,’ he said, referring to him orchestrating the crowd with 12 fist-bumps and a lap of the pitch after the game. ‘I heard the discussions, that Mikel Arteta over-celebrated the win against us. That definitely did not come from me.
‘Everybody can do whatever. I didn’t invent fist-pumps and I don’t have the copyright on it. Do what you want for yourself and your people — what the outside world thinks about it, I couldn’t give a s***, to be honest! This is for us and nobody else.
‘It is not about who, it is about how you play and believe. That was a wonderful example I will never forget.
‘Would I have thought before the season that the Luton game was the one? No. But that is the game I will never forget in my life, I will tell my grandkids it was really special.’
Klopp, often accused by rival fans of being frosty or arrogant, has been on form in the last month, undoubtedly more relaxed, chatty and comedic since he got the seismic news of his upcoming exit off his chest. It helps when his team are winning every week.
After the Luton victory, Klopp joked with this reporter, upon my return from a two-week jaunt across the globe, ‘Holiday? A holiday during the season? (shakes head) I cannot wait for that!’
The other week, he faked to answer a reporter’s phone for him when his son’s dentist was calling.
Klopp insisted he is desperate to win the Carabao Cup ‘for the boys, the club and the people’
One philosophical quote he has told his players, the sort you can imagine on banners in the Kop in the not-too-distant future is, ‘If you don’t limit yourself to bad thoughts, you can fly’. Maybe he can spend his new-found free time penning a poetic memoir of his career.
Looking back on his nine years on Merseyside, he said: ‘What we are doing is writing a wonderful book. When I leave we close that book, put it on the shelf, then someone else will write a wonderful book.
‘I will not leave anything inside, I will give absolutely everything until the last second and then it is fine. I want to win on Sunday, but not for me or my trophy cabinet. It is for the boys, for the club, for the people, that is much more important and everything will go on.
‘There is space for more chapters, it is long, I am not writing the resume already. If we talk about my book then this Luton game has to have its own chapter. It is so special because it is proving a point.’
On Wednesday, he said that win was this team’s version of Barcelona in 2019. Both of those wins, of course, are remembered chiefly for the never-say-die spirit shown to fight for victory, which is a theme of Liverpool’s season and will be the biggest factor in determining how many of the four trophies they are still in contention for they collect before Klopp leaves.
One will be decided on Sunday. The German knows Chelsea have improved since a 4-1 loss at Anfield last month and also name-checked the Carabao and FA Cup finals of 2022 against the Stamford Bridge club as two of his most memorable days in football.
‘The League Cup is a fantastic competition, the only problem with it is you cannot really celebrate if you win it,’ he said, noting the fact that the final is midway through the season. ‘In the stadium it is good, in the dressing room the same, but then you have to go home without any drinking!
‘The finals against Chelsea two years ago were two of the best football games I ever witnessed to be honest. Crazy games, with super special penalty shootouts and that is how finals should be.
‘We saw then what it meant to both teams and what it will mean again on Sunday.’
Asked if he will miss Wembley, Klopp added: ‘I have coached here for 400 or more games, I have seen them all — I will not miss some dressing rooms! The clubs know which ones… but about Wembley, I will not have regrets. I am not built like that.’
Klopp insisted the 2022 Carabao Cup final win against Chelsea as a hugely memorable day
His assistant Pep Lijnders claimed ‘nobody will ever replace Jurgen’ once he leaves his role
With the next four games coming in four different competitions, it feels like the next fortnight or so will dictate whether Liverpool’s season is remembered as a success or a failure.
They hope to welcome Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez back into the squad for Sunday after the pair missed Wednesday’s win over Luton with minor injuries. Dominik Szoboszlai will also be subject to a late call. Whoever plays, Klopp is confident desire will not be lacking. ‘These boys will throw their heart and soul onto the pitch,’ he promised.
However many more chapters are added to Klopp’s book, or shrines built around the training base and Anfield, the manager’s fingerprints are all over this club for ever.
‘Nobody will ever replace Jurgen,’ said his right-hand man Pep Lijnders on Friday. One thing that will definitely not be replaced, until 2070 at least, is a time capsule in Kirkby with artefacts including Klopp’s trademark glasses and a letter written during his tenure. Quite literally, his legacy will remain for decades, regardless of the outcome of his Last Dance.
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