It’s impossible not to love Jurgen Klopp, isn’t it?
Following Wednesday night, which was the fifth consecutive final he’s lost, the German roused his disenchanted squad in the most brilliant way in the hotel.
They’d just lost 3-1 to Sevilla; they’d performed woefully in the second-half and thrown away a lead, but Klopp wouldn’t let that get in the way of the future.
Chris Bascombe of the Telegraph tells the story:
Klopp was sitting with his squad in Basel’s Novotel as the laments about the 3-1 defeat to Sevilla headed into the early hours. Recognising the despondency, the Liverpool manager tried to lift the mood.
He said: “I felt really, really shit three hours ago. It was really shit two hours ago but now we are back here together and it is better. This is just the start for us.”
Klopp then led his squad in a rendition of The Kop chant “We Are Liverpool” – a defiant response to the second final loss in four months!
The thought of our defeated, heartbroken squad joining Klopp in a likely very out of tune chant makes us smile, in all honesty.
Now the dust has settled on the Europa League Final capitulation, it’s important to focus on the positives. Klopp got us to two finals with a squad built by Brendan Rodgers and branded ‘not good enough’ by Liverpool fans.
We battered Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Villarreal, Southampton and beat Borussia Dortmund over two legs under his guidance. Improvements and tweaks will be made this summer, and hopefully one day we’ll look back at the Sevilla defeat as a small bump in Klopp’s path to glory.