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June 25, 2020. Liverpool FC ended their 30-year title wait and were officially crowned Premier League champions. In an extract from a new book about Jurgen Klopp‘s time at the club, we re-live that night:
When the final whistle blew at Stamford Bridge, Formby Hall erupted.
Across the city, car horns beeped non-stop, while fireworks lit up the night sky at a rapid rate. It was like the clock had just struck midnight on New Year’s Eve but with much more meaning for Liverpudlians. What had long been deemed inevitable was now official.
With a record-breaking seven-game cushion, Liverpool Football Club were the 2019/20 Premier League champions, and Klopp was totally overcome with emotion. “Absolutely one of the best football moments I ever had in my life. It was absolutely exceptional,” he said.
“You have no idea how it would feel before it happens. It was pure joy, massive relief in the next second and then I started crying. Then I wanted to speak to [my wife] Ulla and couldn’t, I had her on the phone and I couldn’t speak, I just was crying. I didn’t know why it happened, I had no idea why, I couldn’t stop. I never had a situation in my life when I couldn’t stop crying and didn’t know exactly why.”
When his tears eventually dried, Klopp took a moment to reflect and let the magnitude of such a momentous occasion sink in.
He had succeeded where his seven immediate predecessors had failed and ended the club’s long and often laborious 30-year wait for a League title, one that some supporters feared they would never see again.
His name would now forever be spoken in the same revered tones as the club’s greatest-ever managers and, to top it all, his team had done it in sensational style to create a new history of their own.
“It’s quite an achievement, but I feel overall relief,” he said. “The big three-month gap, I did not know how we’d come back. There’s no easy games in the Premier League … this is a big moment.
“I have no real words, to be honest. I am completely overwhelmed. I never thought it would feel like this. I had no idea. I could not be more proud of my players and coaching staff.
“Ever since we arrived it’s been an amazing ride. And the fans, this is for you. We’ve done it together and it has been a joy. It’s more than I ever dreamed of.”
With his media duties out of the way, a well-deserved night of wild intoxicated celebrations followed.
Klopp and his players, all sporting red home shirts with ‘Champions 19/20’ on the back, sang and danced long into the night. The Liver Bird was back on its perch and there was just one more thing left for Jürgen Klopp to do.
It was by now the early hours of the following morning, but he had one last phone call to make. It was to the person who can claim responsibility for ending Liverpool’s domestic dominance back in the 1990s. “Hello… is that Sir Alex?”
Having missed a call from him earlier in the night, Klopp decided it was a good idea to give the former Manchester United boss a 3:30am wake-up call and gently remind him, in case he’d missed it, of the identity of the new Premier League champions.
* The above is an extract from ‘Klopp: The Liverpool Celebration‘ – a new book celebrating Jurgen’s era at LFC. You can buy your copy direct from LFC’s official store, here.
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