From the appointment of a manager with the middle name Norbert to a hard-fought win against Aston Villa, Simon Hughes selects the six key moments that turned Liverpool from nearly men into champions…
1. The appointment of Jürgen Klopp
I covered Jürgen Klopp’s press unveiling for the Independent in October 2015. It was due to start at 11am, but I arrived at Anfield three hours earlier and supporters had already started gathering. It wasn’t just young fanatics on half-term trying to get an autograph. There was an old guy who lived in Kirkdale standing at the gates. He was a season-ticket holder of something like 50 years. He told me he believed Klopp was the man to turn it around at Liverpool and he’d wait all day because he was desperate to see him. It felt like a religious pilgrimage. When Klopp finally arrived in the room, there was silence. He seemed taller than everyone else and far more relaxed. I wondered whether he appreciated what he was taking on because Liverpool were so far away from where everyone wanted them to be. I left that day thinking the future would be different. His clarity and conviction impressed me most. He didn’t just say things for effect. He believed in himself. He meant everything he said.
2. Liverpool 4 Borussia Dortmund 3
The night Anfield started to believe in the impossible again. In April 2016, 3-1 down and heading out of the Europa League with 25 minutes to go, Liverpool needed three goals to go through. I’d started writing my obituary for the season. Klopp had improved Liverpool, but the players didn’t meet his quality. My colleague at the Independent, Ian Herbert, was attempting to file his report on the final whistle. Each time Liverpool scored, he’d raise his head briefly and nodded as if to say, “Good effort, lads.” When Dejan Lovren put Liverpool ahead with minutes remaining he sat there open-mouthed, realising he’d have to rewrite everything. I was on the last seat of the press box and a fan started hugging me. I hugged him back. I couldn’t get to sleep that night.
3. Signing Sadio Mané
He was Klopp’s first big summer signing in 2016. Liverpool spent nearly £40 million on the Senegalese forward, who’d performed well for Southampton, but was he really Liverpool’s level? If he doesn’t work out then the arguments for the recruitment of Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho and Alisson Becker become harder. It was clear from game one, a 4-3 victory at Arsenal on the opening day of the season, that Mané had a spiky edge in his personality to become not only a mainstay in the Liverpool team but one of the most dangerous forwards in the world.
4. Signing Virgil van Dijk
Klopp’s Liverpool reign can be separated into two parts. Before January 2018, they were an exciting team that could beat anyone but were also capable of dramatic collapses, such as drawing in Sevilla 3-3 when they were 3-0 up. Those days were over when Virgil van Dijk came in for a world-record fee for a defender. The deal could have been completed six months earlier but fell through when Klopp’s pursuit of the Dutchman became a public matter. Previous Liverpool managers may have moved on to other targets at that point but not Klopp, who convinced him to move to Anfield ahead of Manchester City. If he goes there instead, I don’t think the same level of success at Anfield follows.
5. Liverpool 4 Barcelona 0
My favourite Anfield night – 9 May 2019. My wife had found out she was pregnant only a week before and she’d gone to bed early. When I crawled through the door at 1am with work still to do, she asked tentatively what the score was. “Four-nil,” I said. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she replied. Rosalind was born into a family of Evertonians, but she’s never cared about football very much. “No, they won four-nil…” With that, she leapt out of the bed and spent the next few hours watching the highlights before I started to crack on with my report over some strong alcoholic drinks. Neither of us could believe it. I don’t think that feeling will ever be repeated. I’m getting goose pimples just thinking about it…
6. Aston Villa 1 Liverpool 2
Getting over the line in the Champions League final after Barcelona was massive. Liverpool couldn’t afford to lose another final, especially after missing out so narrowly in the league to Manchester City. The confidence from the victory over Spurs carried over into the next season and they were still unbeaten by the time they faced Villa at the start of November. Everything went wrong that day: Roberto Firmino’s equalising goal was harshly ruled out by VAR and two clear penalties for Liverpool were missed by the referee as well as technology. Yet Liverpool kept probing, equalising with three minutes to go before grabbing the winner in the fourth minute of injury time. This result seemed to give Liverpool’s players the belief that they couldn’t be beaten and the confidence from the victory was the platform for the obliteration of Manchester City at Anfield the following weekend, putting Liverpool firmly in the driving seat for the title.
The paperback of Allez Allez Allez: The Inside Story Of The Resurgence Of Liverpool FC (£9.99, Penguin Random House) is out on 23 July.
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