Tag: Jurgen Klopp

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(Video) Fair play to Jurgen Klopp for going to Jan Vertonghen before his Liverpool players after the final whistle in Madrid

Klopp and Vertonghen

Jurgen Klopp is a passionate manager. He has never been shy in expressing joy, excitement, anxiety and all possible emotions in the field.

From his epic fist-pumps to his hilarious rundowns on the sidelines, he’s done it all!

At Anfield, he’s known for the almost infinite number of hugs that his players and staff receive from him after every game, which only shows the respect he has for his players who work hard and give it all on the pitch for him.

So it isn’t a surprise that we saw all these emotions in what was arguably the best night of his career in Madrid when he guided Liverpool to the Champions League trophy.

He is no stranger to coming up short at the finals, having lost six cup finals he must’ve exactly known what Mauricio Pochettino was going through. Unlike the animated Klopp that fans normally see, he first went and calmly shook hands and exchanged a few words with Pochettino.

What was also commendable was the fact that he took time to console a heartbroken Jan Vertonghen picking him up and visibly congratulating him before celebrating the huge win with his players. Check out the moment in the video below –

Klopp came in to manage Liverpool in 2015 after successfully transforming Borussia Dortmund into the German powerhouse of a club in his seven-year stint at the club. He’s already replicated his legacy with the Reds as well!

He is an absolute fan favourite as he constantly interacts with them and sings the anthems along with them. He’s bought in a genuine euphoria about Liverpool and the way they play with his high pressing and attacking football.

Not just the fans but he’s also made the management pretty satisfied. When he started at Anfield, the squad value of Liverpool was €400 million, which is now valued at €1.1 billion. Brand Finance report values Liverpool at £1.02 billion – making them the sixth biggest club in the world (Give Me Sport).

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Features Football

Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp plans to further reform the team into something truly indestructible

After a glorious triumph at Madrid, the UCL champions for the sixth time deserve a long and luxurious rest. However, that doesn’t mean that any transfer opportunities will go unnoticed for Liverpool, and Jurgen Klopp is reportedly looking out for exciting new players to further improve the Reds. Last summer’s investment proved worthwhile for Liverpool, winning the Champions League and only missing out on the Premier League title by a single point.

An interview with Danny Murphy revealed that Klopp is so invested in the project at Liverpool and returning the club to the top of Europe that he won’t be going anywhere, and we can see his improvements, strategies and tactics in action.

In more recent news, according to Teamtalk: Barcelona hope to recoup the £90 million they paid for Dembele in 2017. The imminent arrival of Antoine Griezmann has cast doubt over Dembele’s future at the Camp Nou. And, according to the report, Liverpool have been alerted to the 22-year-old’s availability. Liverpool will only make signings if they can realistically get hold of top targets, and Jurgen Klopp is understood to be a huge fan of Dembele.

There was speculation spread by fans and pundits alike on Twitter that Kylian Mbappe could be linked to Liverpool this summer, however it was shut down as quick as it was released and Mbappé is definitely not coming to Anfield this transfer window, so that’s the last time this rumour will ever circulate wildly around the internet.

Liverpool are reportedly set to offer €15 million for Besiktas midfielder Dorukhan Tokoz, according to a Turkish journalist who covers the Super Lig club. The Reds have been linked with a move this week, with Jurgen Klopp said to be very impressed with the tough and sturdy player, who many believe is ideal for the Premier League.

Klopp won’t be looking to make any major changes as they’re pretty solid in almost all aspects and have formed a team that dominates every area of the pitch. The defence simply cannot be breached with Alisson Becker and his clean sheets and the world’s top defender for some pundits, Virgil van Dijk. Full-backs such as Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold are some of the finest and the central mid-field consists of grit and composure as well. The attacking trio, Mane, Salah and Firmino are really not comparable with Mane and Salah both winning the Golden Boot this year.

So where can Liverpool actually improve? Reports suggest Klopp is on the lookout for a back-up goalkeeper for when Simon Mignolet leaves and reinforcements in the full-back positions.

Italian newspaper Il Mattinho claims Liverpool are thinking about making an official bid for the Senegalese defender, Kalidou Koulibaly, and will hope his international team-mate Sadio Mane has a word to convince him towards Anfield.

It’s a frightening prospect with Liverpool potentially lining up with Koulibaly alongside Virgil van Dijk next season. There will be calls for the best defence in Europe if Jurgen Klopp lands the incredible centre-back.

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Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp dominates all-German survey ahead of Pep and Pochettino

Famed German outlet Kicker organised a survey to select the best managers who are currently reigning in the world of football. They questioned 250 Bundesliga players on a multitude of matters along with their choice of best manager in Europe.

Poll Results

  • 66 % (165 out of 250) voted for Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp.
  • 18.4 % of votes went to Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola (2nd)

The Merseyside club soared in the Premier League and clinched the Champions League this season and a big part of that was the guy at the helm, Jurgen Klopp.

Ajax manager Erik ten Hag and Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino picked up 3.6% and 3.2% respectively in the all-German survey.

Ajax were brilliant in the Champions League as they demolished two of the biggest European football clubs in Real Madrid and Juventus. But they lost out in the semi-finals to Pochettino-led Tottenham.

However, Tottenham too was crushed by Klopp and his Merseyside army in the finals as the Reds became the champions of Europe.

Thus it’s only fitting that the Liverpool manager be crowned as the best manager of the season.

Check out the full results of the poll below –

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The “soft factor” attracting CEOs around the world to invest money in Liverpool

Liverpool are getting new sponsors because CEOs want to meet Jurgen Klopp

The AXA Group CEO, Thomas Buberl flocked to the Merseyside when he heard about the chance to meet Jurgen Klopp, which eventually resulted in AXA signing a sponsorship deal with the Liverpool football club.

I was very happy to meet with Jürgen Klopp, Liverpool Football Club’s manager. In life insurance & football, the results come from goal setting, preparation, confidence & being supported by the right partners! We at AXA want to be an encouraging partner

Thomas Buberl tweeted on 8th April 2019

Recent deals

Last year the Reds announced Levi’s, as their official partner and renewed their partnership with Standard Chartered with a whopping amount of 160 million pounds.

https://twitter.com/Philip1978/status/1125065422133506049

All these huge deals have been because of the monumental campaigns both in the Premier League and Europe under Klopp.

Now they just need a trophy to show for it.

For Liverpool Football Club, Mr Klopp is a huge asset, because big corporations, global companies, are approaching Liverpool because they want to become sponsors. Why? Because if you are a sponsor the chances of your CEO meeting Mr Klopp increase dramatically.

Quote from Christoph Nesshoever on Manager Magazin (via The Times)

The normal one

An excellent man manager and tactician, Klopp also has significant influence over the club’s commercial aspects.

The passion and charisma that the German genius wields, makes him a man with whom everybody want to associate and work with.

Boy, this guy is really charming. He is going to do wonderfully at press conferences and as a representative of a club.’ Very quickly, what came across was his immense talent: not just on the personal side, but the level of intelligence, the kind of analytical thinking, the logic, the clarity and honesty, his ability to communicate so effectively even though English was not his first language.

Michael Gordon, one of the directors at Liverpool FC, when he saw Jurgen Klopp personally

Rise in value

According to Brand Finance in June last year, Liverpool’s brand value had increased by 33 per cent in the last 12 months – the largest growth by any club in that period.

I’m not saying these CEOs are signing these deals just to meet Mr Klopp but it’s a soft factor. His charisma attracts people to the club.

Quote from Christoph Nesshoever on Manager Magazin (via The Times)
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Blog Football

Klopp’s comments fuel Barca fans to smash their attendance record at Camp Nou

The Champions League semi-final clash between Barcelona and Liverpool was always going to be a cagey affair. Both the teams have previously won 5 Champions League titles and will be going after their 6th one. A tie of such intensity will obviously attract a lot of attention towards both the teams and their respective managers.

It is always natural for players and managers to play mind games before such a big game. Such was the case for Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp perhaps when he recently said in an interview, that his players should not be overawed by the magnitude of the Camp Nou, stating that the iconic stadium was not a football temple, and that it was just a ‘football stadium’.

Obviously this attracted a lot of criticism towards Klopp, with many calling for him to apologize for his remark. Even the official Barcelona Twitter account sent out a tweet, with an image of the Camp Nou, following the words ‘ Our home, Our temple, Our fortress’ written in the post.

Nevertheless what has been said against them, the club will always have thousands of fans who will be supporting them. And that is exactly what they did come the first leg of the Champions League semi-final clash against Liverpool on the 1st of May.

Barcelona set a new record for having the highest attendance of the season with a mind numbing 98,299 fans coming to watch the match-

In such a spicy encounter between 2 European giants, the fans can play a key role in influencing the game. On the day, Barcelona fans were in full support of their team, as they ran out 3-0 victors, with Suarez opening the scoring in the first half, followed by a second half brace by their talisman Lionel Messi.

Klopp may as well rue his words, as Barcelona will be heading to Anfield, having already won the La Liga title and with one foot in the Champions League final. While Liverpool on the other hand, will have a tough task ahead, with an away trip to Newcastle United followed by their second leg clash against Barcelona.

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Jose Mourinho – Man Utd didn’t back me like Pep and Klopp were

Widely known as ‘The Special One’, Jose Mourinho has won numerous trophies during his time in Spain, Italy, Portugal and England.

His stint at Manchester United, it is fair to say, ended on not-so-good terms. He was criticized for his lack of attacking football, his public shaming of players, and most importantly, his refusal to play Pogba in the starting line up.

While doing punditry work for Bein Sports, the Portuguese hit back at the Manchester United Board, saying that they did not back him like how Manchester City backed Pep Guardiola, or how Liverpool backed Jurgen Klopp.

When looking back at his time at Manchester United, there is little proof that goes in favor of Mourinho. In his 3 years at the club, he had 5 transfer windows.

According to the Guardian, in those transfer windows, the club spent upwards of 350 million euros on 11 players.

It should also be noted that out of those 350 million euros, United spent 90 million Euros in 2016 in a world record transfer to bring Paul Pogba from Juventus to United.

Although that may be the case, the signings that United had made may not have been the signings that Mourinho would have wanted.

The lack of a Sporting Director at United means that the responsibility of getting new players goes to Ed Woodward, who, one would probably associate with having more of an eye for the business side of the game rather than what goes on the field .

Klopp and Guardiola on the other hand, with the help of their Sporting Directors, have gotten the players they desired and are now challenging for major trophies. T

The same cannot be said for Mourinho, who on multiple occasions had come out publicly to express his anger at not getting the players he wanted, especially a center-back.

With United needing an overhaul, the requirement of a Sporting Director is now more than ever.

Read: Man Utd could be looking to emulate Ajax with Rio Ferdinand as Director of Football

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Football

Binance CEO shows the unique invitation Liverpool sends to its potential partners

In the modern day era, football is more than just a game. It is a business. Evolving from the action on the pitch, football has grown into an empire outside of football; expanding into various fields such as marketing, finance and healthcare to name a few.

With football growing rapidly into virtually every field, Liverpool now seem to have made strides into crypto-currency, as they sent out an invitation to Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao.

The Chinese-Canadian businessman posted on his Twitter recently a video of the invitation he received from Liverpool. It’s fair to say that he was impressed by style if the invite he received.

The invitation itself was extremely innovative. It paired vintage with new-age. The invitation itself was housed in a red enveloped, with the front of it showcasing Liverpool’s logo and their motto, “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. Once the envelope is opened, there is a screen which plays a video message and there are control buttons for pause/play and volume adjustment.

The video starts with a tribute to a potential partnership with Liverpool, with Liverpool’s logo paired with Binance’s. It is then followed by a voice-over by Reds manager Jurgen Klopp uttering the words, “We are Liverpool. This means more.” The video message is also paired with a handwritten note by Liverpool’s partnership development manager, Marcel Weigmann, and is duly signed off by him.

The message on the note was clear; as Liverpool looked to explore partnership opportunities in detail with Binance. Earlier, Liverpool had sent out a similar invitation to Justin Sun, who is the CEO of the TRON foundation, for reasons similar to that mentioned in the message on the handwritten note.

Liverpool are pushing themselves to the limit in the league, giving it their all as they chase their first title in the PL era. With brilliant, technologically adept yet personally addressed invites such as the one’s sent out to Zhao and Sun, Liverpool are also pushing the frontiers of innovation and partnership opportunities to another level.

 

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Football

Liverpool and Man City account for 17.9 percent of all the points won in the Premier League this season

For the Premier League, the 2000s saw the world get introduced to the notion of the Big Four concept. In that time, the world saw Arsenal become the Invincibles in 2004 and Chelsea haul a then-record by accumulating 95 points in 2005.

The 2010s however, brought us new change. With the emergence of Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, the Big Four reshaped into the Big Six, as competition at the top found new challengers. In the nine years since, the league has seen City win in the final seconds of the final day at the expense of United in 2012, Leicester defying the odds in 2016 and City breaking Chelsea’s record of 95 points with a century of points in 2018.

Ever since City’s emergence, the noisy neighbors have taken the league by the scruff of the neck. Other clubs fear them and at the same time want to be them, both in position, pull and power.

But this season, hasn’t seen the blue side of Manchester fly away. The Reds of Liverpool – scoring for fun and housing the best defense in the league – have have menacingly followed them in every round and have proved themselves to be worthy contenders for the title.

The current PL season has seen Liverpool and Man City dominating throughout, accounting for 17.9 percent (something that hasn’t been achieved since the 1890s according to the New York Times) of the total points won, which is a remarkable statistic in its own.

Talking about the title race, City and Liverpool are a cut above the rest. This season particularly, City seem to have maintained, if not, improved their performances from last season, looking absolutely ruthless and flawless in style of play.

The two-club dominance can be seen throughout in attack, midfield and defense. Salah (21) and Mane (20) lead the way on goals scored, closely followed by Aguero (20). Robertson has 11 assists, which is third on the stats list, with Sane and Sterling locked on 10. Liverpool have 20 clean sheets with City on 19. All season, these two have gone toe-to-toe against each other in a bid to be crowned champions.

This season’s title race is set to go down to the wire, as both clubs constantly swap places at the top. City are currently leading by a point, with both clubs having two games left. They have entertained us all season with their unique styles of play, and are providing us with a grand-stand finish as the season closes.

The main takeaway from this season however, is the standards that these two clubs have set for others to follow.

City and Liverpool have maintained otherworldly standards and it looks like a daunting task for the rest of the chasing pack. Will there be any club to usurp these dominators, or will it be a repeat of this season in seasons hence?

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Blog Football

Photo: Porto fans share love for Jurgen Klopp after a beautiful gesture from the German

Football is all about respect. It is multi-faceted in a sense that it not just about players. There is respect between fans, clubs, management, sentiments and a lot more. It’s what makes the “Beautiful Game” that much more captivating to watch and enjoy. The game is about honor and regard, and no matter the result, the real victory goes to football.

Even when rivals face off, there is still bag loads of respect shown. Right from the exchange of pennants before kick-off till the scenes post-match, honor is preserved. It’s something that unites clubs, fans and players alike. Something that does go overlooked most of the time; away from the action on the pitch, is acts of reverence on the sidelines.

Warm embraces between staff before the game, respectful handshakes after the game, clubs addressing a rival managers’/clubs’ achievements, guards of honor, observing a minute’s silence for those no longer with us – all these acts are met with a smile on the face and satisfies the soul.

One such moment that occurred recently, was in the Champions League second-leg of the quarter final between Porto and Liverpool. Porto were celebrating 125 years of their existence with a commemorative symbol placed on the turf. Pictures show Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp walking around the symbol on his path, making sure to avoid stepping on it.

It really was a mark of utmost respect from Klopp to pay attention to such details, on a night that was important for him and Liverpool, as they progressed through to the semis with a 6-1 aggregate score.

https://twitter.com/SOMOSPORTOCRL/status/1118982522183016449

Liverpool may have won the tie convincingly, but Klopp won the hearts of Reds and Porto fans alike with this gesture. Porto fans were in awe of the German for his gesture and were quick to appreciate it on social media.

Although the world is divided by clubs and rivalries, its moments like this that unites us all. More than being a game of glory, the game truly is, about respect. Here are a few respectful moments in football –

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Jurgen Klopp – “Liverpool fans will jump from the 16th floor if it meant winning the title”

In his very first interview since joining Liverpool as manager, Klopp termed himself as “The Normal One”. With exuberant celebrations, his team playing high intensity football, a classic German charisma and a smile that could light up all of Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp is far from “normal”.

In that very interview in 2015, Klopp mentioned that if he were to still be manager of the Reds following his initial three year deal, he is confident that Liverpool would have one title in the bag. Having signed on till 2022 at Anfield, Klopp’s prophecy seems to be on the verge of materializing.

Jurgen Klopp’s quotes in a German interview resonates with Liverpool fans’ desire to win the league

With Liverpool playing some mesmerizing football under Klopp, especially this season, it has got the fans believing that they can push on and win the league as they battle it out, toe-to-toe with Manchester City for top spot.

Ever since Sir Alex Ferguson took charge at Manchester United, Liverpool’s love affair with the league diminished. Having watched their rivals overtake them with regard to the number of league titles won and with the league title eluding the Reds since the inception of the Premier League, it is understandable why Liverpool fans are over the moon this season, with their team fighting till the death for the top prize.

This season they look like genuine title contenders, displaying all the qualities characteristic of champions.

So when Jurgen Klopp gave an exclusive interview to German newspaper Die Welt, he was not exaggerating (well, he was actually) when he said that Liverpool fans would be ready to jump off the 16th floor if they won the league.

As crazy as that sounds, Klopp does have a point.

Although fans wouldn’t sacrifice themselves, he wanted to bring out the idea that Liverpool fans have been waiting for such a moment for a very long time now.

He wanted to highlight what it would mean to the fans if the Reds won the league this term. Fueled by the frustration of no league title in the modern PL era, arch rivals Man Utd leading the way with 20 titles and just the utter desire end the barren run, Liverpool fans are behind their team to see them give the fans what they have been longing for.

Will the fans’ wishes be granted? Will Liverpool’s long hunt for a league title come to an end with them being crowned as champions, or will City seal the deal with their second successive title?