Jürgen Klopp and Liverpool FC won the League Cup on Sunday. Afterwards, the coach spoke about his joy – and was visibly emotional.
Jürgen Klopp was on cloud nine after his team gave him the first title on his farewell tour at Liverpool FC – and especially praised his many youngsters. “I’m sure when we brought all the kids into the game people thought, ‘OK, that’s it, they give up, they have a game on Wednesday.’ But that really wasn’t the case,” explained the German team manager after the 1-0 (0-0) triumph in the final of the English League Cup against Chelsea.
“We thought we needed fresh legs. And the legs were fresh, but very young. They got the job done,” praised Klopp. Due to numerous injuries to his stars, he had to improvise on the way to the title. He was not disappointed, captain Virgil van Dijk redeemed his team with a header goal in the 118th minute.
“It’s unbelievable what happened”
“What happened here is absolute madness,” said the outgoing coach: “What an academy full of character. It’s unbelievable what happened.” The 56-year-old celebrated his eighth title with the LFC. More could follow in the Premier League, Europa League and FA Cup.
Despite all his joy, Klopp again criticized the tight schedule. “I love this country to bits, but the game plan isn’t designed to win much,” he said. With former Bayern professional Ryan Gravenberch, Klopp lost the next alternative against Chelsea, on Wednesday (from 9 p.m. in the t-online live ticker) Liverpool will welcome FC Southampton in the round of 16 of the FA Cup.
“Somehow there will be a team wearing Liverpool shirts”
Then the trainer’s improvisation skills will be required again. Already on Sunday, Liverpool had to do without countless stars such as Mohammed Salah, Darwin Núñez and regular goalkeeper Alisson Becker.
“We don’t have a team for Wednesday at the moment. The boys who came in today might be able to play again,” said Klopp and remained optimistic: “Somehow there will be a team in Liverpool jerseys against Southampton.”
Jürgen Klopp is leaving Liverpool FC at the end of the season. The coach came to the “Reds” in 2015. Among other things, he won the Champions League title with the club in the 2018/19 season and became English champions with Liverpool one season later. He justified his voluntary retirement in the summer by saying that he no longer had enough energy.