With two games to go in the Premier League, the odds of Jürgen Klopp making history again have dropped significantly. With Liverpool FC he still has the theoretical chance of winning the “quadruple” of Champions League title, championship, FA Cup and League Cup.
Given the 1-1 against Tottenham Hotspur at the weekend and three points behind Manchester City this project threatens to fail in the final sprint but at least in the English championship.
Penalties had to decide in the League Cup
But even before the title decision in the league stands for the “Reds” the second of a total of three finals reached. On Saturday (May 14th, 2022) Liverpool will meet Chelsea at London’s Wembley Stadium.
This game has already been in a final this season, with 11:10 after penalties Klopp won his first title of the 2021/22 season in the League Cup against the team of coach Thomas Tuchel.
Next weekend there will be the next round in the never-ending duel between the two exceptional German coaches. Ever since Tuchel took over the coaching job at Mainz 05 from Klopp, who went to Borussia Dortmund, in August 2009, the two have been compared again and again and have to compete with each other.
Klopp has distanced himself from his rival so far
The two have meanwhile played 18 games against each other and the balance sheet is as clear for Klopp as the perceived values, in which one is said to be the charismatic hero and the other the idiosyncratic tactical fetishist. The Klopp teams won ten games, the Tuchel teams only three. So a lot still has to happen before there can ever be talk of a balanced duel.
Yet Tuchel’s list of successes is quite long. German cup winner with Borussia Dortmund, two champions and one cup winner with Paris St. Germain, plus the highlight with Chelsea last season: the title in the Champions League.
This also earned him the award for World Coach of the 2020/21 season. All of this was crowned by winning the FIFA Club World Cup this season.
Fourth Champions League final for Klopp
But Klopp is still superior to his opponent there. He will play his fourth Champions League final against Real Madrid on May 28. No German coach has been in the biggest game at continental club level more often.
In 2019 he brought the “Henkelpott” to Liverpool, after which the “Reds” also won the FIFA Club World Cup. Otherwise, two German championships with BVB as well as a cup victory with Dortmund and the Premier League title 2020 adorn Klopp’s trophy cabinet. He was also world coach twice.
Two successful trainers, just one beloved trainer
In summary, one can speak of Germany’s most successful coaches of the present, who also celebrate great success abroad. Nevertheless, Tuchel remains in the shadow of Klopp. The former common companions also make their contribution to this.
Mainz sports director Christian Heidel and BVB managing director Hans-Joachim Watzke emphasize again and again that their close friendships with Klopp still exist, while the relationship with Tuchel is more collegial.
Klopp “has a gift that cannot be learned”
According to Heidel, Klopp is the bigger “man catcher“, during “Thomas (…) the greatest tactician there is“, may be. “He just analyzes everything, discipline is the be-all and end-all of his work. Every practice has to be perfect, every preparation has to be perfect, every game has to be perfect“said Heidel. Watzke’s praise for Tuchel is also limited to sporting, privately it sounds like this: “We certainly won’t be great friends in life either.“
“He has a gift that cannot be learned. When Jürgen enters a room, it automatically gets brighter“Watzke, on the other hand, said recently about Klopp. In terms of popularity, today’s Liverpool coach is far ahead of his Chelsea opponents, his collection of titles is also a bit larger. But in the FA Cup final, Tuchel will do everything in his power, forever Duel to shorten the gap.