It’s been an honor and a privilege to follow Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool every other week at Anfield, here are my 10 favorite games and the atmosphere of the great man’s reign…
Privileged would be one word to describe the journey that Klopp took us on, a roller coaster of a life that will echo through generations.
I was one of the lucky ones, and here are my top 10 atmospheres at Anfield during Klopp’s nine-season tenure.
10. Liverpool 4:1 Chelsea, January 2024
It wasn’t the end of the story we all hoped for, but as always, there were plenty of good points along the way.
The manager delivered some of his famous Main Stand banter earlier in the campaign and went so far as to criticize his supporters after the 5-1 win over West Ham in the League Cup in December.
Fortunately, Anfield responded in kind and a 4-1 defeat of Chelsea just days after Klopp confirmed his imminent departure was one of a number of displays of defiance at the Kop that followed.
9. Liverpool 3-3 Leicester (5-4 penalties), December 2021
What started as a seemingly innocuous domestic cup tie has reached derby fever levels during the illustrious 2021/22 League Cup run.
Leicester’s support on the road brought with it a depressingly predictable lack of taste, but their decision to joke with poverty was ultimately their own undoing as Anfield and Diogo Jota rose to the occasion.
8. Liverpool 1:0 Everton, January 2020
We played with the kids on Sunday night and they barely touched the ball!
Just when you thought we’d run out of fun ways to beat our blue neighbours, Klopp struck fear into all our hearts by knocking out a team of teenagers in the Merseyside derby in the third round of the FA Cup in January 2020.
It was Everton’s big chance to finally break their Anfield duck in the 21st century (a covid win still doesn’t count), and they started as bookies’ favorites after the team announcements.
Curtis Jones had other ideas, however, and Anfield rejoiced to emerge victorious over Everton in the unusual role of underdogs.
7. Liverpool 5-2 Roma, April 2018
We shouldn’t have been in the last four of the Champions League at such an early stage in Klopp’s Liverpool journey, let alone 5-0 on such an occasion.
It was a real throwback to the good old days under Rafa Benitez in Europe, but with a team that was 10 times more fun to watch and a real sense that this was just the beginning.
European Cup semi-finals have become commonplace in the years that followed, but the bus reception will live long in the memory, as will those frankly ridiculous opening 70 minutes.
6. Liverpool 2:0 Man United, January 2019
The night we finally won the league.
We were cruelly robbed of the opportunity to celebrate our elusive 19th league title in the way we all imagined.
That’s what makes me all the more grateful that we allowed ourselves to get so carried away when Mohamed Salah sealed the points against Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s inferior side.
It’s five-and-a-half years since Anfield dared to sing the words: “We’re going to win the league.”
An unwritten, self-imposed ban imposed by the heartbreaking fall of 2013/14. she prevented that in the meantime.
We will always have that moment at the end of the Kop, a moment that meant even more to us than it felt at the time.
5. Liverpool 2:0 Chelsea, April 2019
There are certain things that can help Anfield ignite over the course of 90 minutes.
Shots, refereeing decisions and opposition managers (no names) contributed at various times, but you’d struggle to beat two quick goals in the middle of a title run as a tonic.
Sadio Mane opened the scoring against Maurizio Sarri’s Chelsea shortly after the break, but it is Salah’s goalscorer that will rightly be remembered for this game.
The goal elicited, to this day, the loudest version of ‘Allez Allez Allez’ I’ve ever heard in a league game, and perhaps even shook the ground enough to match what we conjured up under the lights of the Champions League night.
4. Liverpool 2:0 Man United, March 2016
One of Klopp’s greatest achievements as Liverpool manager was reaching three Champions League finals in the space of just five years, but the side’s run in Europe’s second division during his first season was arguably the catalyst for it all.
The Reds’ only European meeting with Man United promised to be unbearable, but the first leg was certainly not for the faint of heart if you were wearing the white away shirt.
It was a night when the visitors were caught looking at the Kop during pre-match formalities, the moment they realized what they were about to get themselves into.
Personally, I hope I never have to endure the prospect of that fixture in Europe any time soon, but at the same time I’m overjoyed that we got the chance to see the Reds do a number on our old rivals on a proper night at Anfield.
3. Liverpool 3-0 Man City, April 2018
This was the night I knew we had arrived, we were ready and we were ready to take on the guys that everyone else told us were out of reach.
Nothing stirs the soul like facing a fellow Englishman on the European stage. Being underdogs and having to play the second leg away from home added to the feeling of anxiety.
Fortunately, however, the Reds played their trump card at Anfield to produce a perfect performance and blow away Pep Guardiola’s superstar side within half an hour on a night when he realized the Reds were his biggest threat to an era of uncomplicated dominance.
The Spaniard has been preoccupied with us ever since. It was a night that reminded me of the Kop against Chelsea when we were simply not prepared to allow a Premier League rival to appear in the competition we know best as far as British clubs are concerned.
2. Liverpool 4-3 Borussia Dortmund, April 2016
A night in which both clubs received a FIFA award for their unified rendition of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, and perhaps one that set the tone for the miracles that followed in the following years.
Twice the Reds looked dead and buried after two early away goals were consolidated by Marco Reus’ curling finish just before the hour mark.
Yet the air of inevitability for which Klopp’s Liverpool have become famous reared its head for the first time when Philippe Coutinho entered the fray less than 10 minutes later.
The Kop has often been credited with pulling the ball into the net in moments of desperation, but there is no greater example than that senseless night eight years ago. There were some in the crowd with tears in their eyes.
1. Liverpool 4:0 Barcelona, May 2019
If we’re being honest, every other day or night at Anfield plays somewhere else on this list.
Klopp’s time at Liverpool was littered with tales of his side making the impossible possible, but this was absurd even by his lofty standards.
There wouldn’t be a sixth European Cup if it wasn’t for perhaps the greatest night Anfield has ever witnessed. Nobody even sniffed us, but the coach told his players before the game: “Because of you, I think we have a chance.”
You sense he meant it as much for the fans as for his players, a side that didn’t include Salah or Roberto Firmino.
Rival fans will be more than happy to tell you all about the Liverpool home crowd myth, but let’s face it, there’s only one place on the planet where that turnaround would even remotely be possible.
