Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp targets repeat Champions League success on anniversary of win over Tottenham
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has spent much of lockdown reliving last year's Champions League final victory over Tottenham in Madrid.
A year on, Klopp feels he now has a greater understanding of the significance of that success - a fact that has only boosted his determination to repeat it.
“I had enough time [in lockdown] so I watched pretty much all our Champions League games again," Klopp told the club's official website. "It’s nice.
“I didn’t see a lot of the things the boys did around – little interviews here, little nice situations there, what the fans did – so there was a lot to watch during lockdown. And I did that.
“Now I’m, I would say, on the right level knowledge-wise. I know exactly what all the people did around the world and I enjoyed it a lot.
“We all work on – and hope for – we can deliver similar or the same thing again in the future. We will work on that because it’s so big, it’s so massive. Now, when we speak about it – which I obviously don’t do that often – I really feel it. It is big, it is absolutely big, and hopefully we can do similar things again.”
Victory in the Spanish capital was followed by an open-top bus parade through the city of Liverpool, which brought out an estimated crowd of 750,000.
Klopp added: “Just time flies, that’s how it is. Yes, I know; yesterday [in 2019] I had a press conference, today a year ago we played the game.
“How we knew afterwards, it became one of the biggest days in our lives – a wonderful experience, sensational.
“The things that happened afterwards, that we could then play the European Super Cup, play the World Cup and all that stuff. In the moment you get told you have to play them, it’s like, ‘Wow, really, where should we fit them in?’ But it was brilliant.
“And the next time we are in a similar situation I will really look forward to it more than I did last time, because now I know how good it felt when you won it.
“But it all started with the Champions League and that was massive, a big day, great. Today a year ago means on Tuesday a year ago we were in the city. One year ago the world was in a different place, that’s true as well, but we will get there again and I can’t wait.”
Klopp had overseen final defeats in the League Cup, Europa League and Champions League prior to finally getting over the line at the Wanda Metropolitano last year.
And the German is delighted that he and his squad ensured their names will be written in Liverpool history forever thanks to the events of that evening.
“I’m 100 per cent sure a lot of people can still tell stories about the 2005 final, it’s clear,” he added.
“That’s what it’s all about, that we collect these stories and tell them to other people.
“I’m delighted we are part of these stories now because it took a while, and nobody speaks too long about the finals we lose – how I know for myself. It’s absolutely OK.
“About this final, people will speak for a long, long time.”
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