Liverpool of the 2021/22 season is one of the best teams in history. Scoring 92 points in the English Premier League, the toughest title on the planet, is an extraordinary achievement.
Jürgen Klopp’s team lost just two of their 38 Premier League games – West Ham (2:3) and Leicester (0:1). Hammers beat the scorers thanks to two corners, and Leicester was stupidly lucky: they played worse than Liverpool, but dragged the match thanks to a tailwind – luck.
With all this, Liverpool failed to win the title – Manchester City, beating Josep Guardiola’s Klopp by one point, was victorious.
In the 2018/19 season, Liverpool lost one of 38 games and scored 97 points, but still finished second: Manchester City and then another point. The only defeat of the Reds was the match at Etihad, where John Stones knocked the ball out of the lane with a score of 0: 0 – as it turned out later, it separated Liverpool by a few millimeters from the championship.
Yesterday, 28 May, Liverpool lost to Real Madrid (0:1) in the Champions League final and took 23 shots – Madrid, in turn, threatened Alisson’s goal only three times. The only shot on target – for the author of Vinicius – resulted in a goal. In total, according to xG calculations, Liverpool lost 2.19 goals in the final, Real Madrid – 0.92.
In just three finals this season – Champions League, League Cup and FA Cup – Liverpool have accumulated 6.12 xG, but haven’t scored a single goal. But two trophies went to Klopp: in local cups, his team beat Chelsea twice on penalties.
During the entire Champions League campaign, from the group stage to the final, Liverpool had accumulated 27 xG goals and should have conceded 11.5. Difference plus 15.5. The winner of the tournament, “Real”, scored 19.2 goals against others’ gates, and 19.6 goals against his own. The difference is minus 0.4.
Founding one of the most important teams in modern football, Jurgen Klopp has won five trophies (excluding the European Super Cup) at Anfield in seven years: the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup and Club Each World Cup. The German coach has won one of three Champions League finals with Liverpool – beating Tottenham’s chronic losers in a dubious penalty result.
The victory of the Reds in the 2019/20 Premier League was great: 32 wins, 99 points, just three losses. But still, most of us remember that season not for Liverpool, but for the sudden onset of a pandemic, the postponement of some games for the summer, and the empty stands. The legend of the big dippers is busted by the taste of bat soup.
I’ve enumerated these facts at length to show that fate has so far treated Jurgen Klopp extremely unfairly. Against the backdrop of German work, the three European Cups in Zinedine Zidane’s collection seem blasphemous – but you can’t rewrite history. Guardiola has already won the Premier League four times and he clearly has no plans to slow down in that regard.
Recently mossy Everton coach Carlo Ancelotti set a Champions League victory record yesterday: he now has four ear cups in his collection. Papa Carlo lost only one of his five finals: 2005, the same 3-3 in Istanbul, as mysterious as David Lynch’s fantasy and Serginho’s blow to the sparrows. Klopp, on the other hand, lost in the third final of his career: in addition to two failures with Liverpool, in 2013 there was Dortmund – 1: 2 from Bayern.
Maybe the above doesn’t make any sense and Klopp will still catch up with Zidane, Ancelotti and Pep. After all, Jürgen is refreshing – yesterday, immediately after the defeat, he pre-invited the fans to the next Champions League final:
“I have a strong feeling that we will play in the Champions League final again. The guys are really competitive, they are an outstanding team and it will be the same next season. Where will the final be next season? Is it in Stambul? Book a hotel.”
Well, if Jurgen believes it: Positive motivation is clearly his talent. But there is a feeling that we will not see Liverpool in Istanbul. Reds about to lose Sadio Mane – Senegalese go to Bayern. Salah has been feeling down lately: Mo lost in the African Cup final in just four months, didn’t reach the World Cup with Egypt, didn’t reach the Premier League golds and flew to Real Madrid even though he really wanted revenge. He.
Today, for May 29, Liverpool is scheduled to take the bus with the trophies won – it looks like this will be the saddest championship parade in history. I’m sure Trent, who made a fatal mistake yesterday, will remember the thought: I’m being driven around town like Cersei Lannister.
It seems to me that fate did not like Klopp because he was so good and right. When the pandemic started, he warned fans: The main issue is human health and football can be rescheduled. Legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly said: “Some people think football is a matter of life and death; I am totally disappointed with their attitude. I can assure you football is much, much more important” would never agree with Jürgen.
“My mom will be 75 on 12 August, that’s more important to me than the German Super Cup,” Klopp said before his game against Bayern in 2014.
I am ready to give a lot to win the Champions League. Everything except my son… Maybe my wife,” Real Madrid player Federico Valverde said ahead of yesterday’s final.
Finally, while working in Dortmund 11 years ago, Klopp articulated his main principle: “I’d rather give up with good football than win with a bad game.”
A principle that Real Madrid never followed, gnawing through ugly victories after another: the blindness of the referees, the quirks of Ulreich, the heartbeat of Michael Oliver. The mythology of Real Madrid is based only on success, it is worth pulling a gold ring out of the nose of the Madrid bull – and it will have nothing to build its identity.
Liverpool have won a league title in 32 years, but still remain Liverpool. His identity is different: Police, You’ll Never Walk Alone, a sense of community and community. While Real Madrid has a gold ring on each finger, Liverpool has the fraternity of the ring.
Jürgen fits perfectly into this ecosystem; You have to admit it’s only been seven years and it already looks like he’s been coaching at Anfield forever. In April, Labor MP Alistair Campbell lauded Klopp, praising Klopp primarily as a citizen, a comrade and a hard worker:
“Juergen, you realize that if you have money and power (or money and influence) then you have an obligation to help the less fortunate in this life. Understand that the wealthiest people must pay taxes and not avoid tax as many do. I know you are doing great things for the community in Dortmund.
Even if you’ve never read the Statutes of the Labor Party, I’m sure you can connect with its core tenet: Together we can do more than we can alone.
I want our so-called politicians to examine your leadership style. How great it would be if they had the same passion for their work! Just like your attention to detail. Same adaptability and acceptance of the new. Ability to communicate. But most of all, I want our politicians to have the ability to bring a lot of joy and pride to society.”
Alexander Karataev told me in an interview that Jurgen, as a football player, devoted hours to reading books. If she read Gorky, she probably liked the image of Danko. Even if his heart had been crushed by an ungrateful mob, the German was probably not at all surprised that a man would sacrifice himself for the common good.
But retell the Danko legend to Vinicius Junior, whose image the team of image creators sweated for his image, and he is unlikely to understand how he could destroy the empire that bears his name with a single noble gesture. Why is this a necessary step?
Journalist Peter Mufarregue, talking about the youth of the Liverpool manager, touched on an interesting detail: The Klopp family was so economical that 20-year-old Jurgen wore glasses for his father. This is definitely an anti-Real approach: they got rid of Angel Di Maria in Madrid because there wasn’t enough media coverage.
Once upon a time in Madrid, “Goodbye!” with a light heart. they said. With Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder, the Dutch won the Champions League with other teams. But Madrid is not upset, he has so many championship rings that Tom Brady shrugged his shoulders and went to raise the third.
Look at Klopp’s Lil Uzi Vert training and Jürgen would think: Wow, the man has been working for seven years, beads of sweat on his forehead!
To win more often, Klopp needs to stop being Walter White and try on a Heisenberg hat at least once. Meanwhile, the same hat adorns Guardiola’s head: he donned a Catalan hazmat suit, locked himself in the Etihad Stadium, and produced flawless blue meth.
However, it seems to me that Jurgen will never give up his snow-white smile. And this is its main attraction.
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