Jordan Henderson recently sat down for an interview with This Is Anfield and whilst discussing the memorable 2019 Champions League final victory over Spurs in Madrid, the Liverpool skipper was blown away to discover that the game was the one and only time that Jurgen Klopp named that exact starting XI.
The 2-0 defeat of Mauricio Pochettino’s side in the Spanish capital is a night that Kopites will never forget after ending our 14-year wait to get our hands back on European football’s most prestigious trophy.
And quite remarkably, the team that our German tactician selected that day had never all started a game together and never did again afterwards – much to the surprise of our No. 14.
“You’re joking!” the former Sunderland man said.
“Wow! What a stat that is! So they never played together before or after?
“Yeah, that’s mad, that. Did you tell the Gaffer that? I’m going to tell him when I see him.”
In goal was Alisson Becker with Andy Robertson, Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Trent Alexander-Arnold ahead of him.
Henderson captained the side alongside Fabinho and Gini Wijnaldum in midfield while Sadio Mane, Bobby Firmino and Mo Salah made up the front three.
On paper that was our strongest starting XI and it’s bemusing as to how that team never played together before that memorable night.
The core of our side was always pretty similar but the likes of Naby Keita, James Milner or Divock Origi had always replaced others in the side until that game.
It wasn’t the most entertaining of games but we got our hands on the trophy and that’s all that mattered!
Check the interview out below via This Is Anfield on YouTube with the remarkable statistic conversation coming at 6:30: