Jurgen Klopp’s greatest moments as Liverpool manager

Highlights

• Jurgen Klopp announced that he will be leaving Liverpool come the end of the 2023/2024 season following a trophy-laden spell at Anfield.
• The German boss has won the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup in his time on Merseyside.
• GIVEMESPORT now looks at the best moments of Klopp’s career as manager at Liverpool, including trophy wins and famous games.

Jurgen Klopp shocked the footballing world after announcing his departure from Liverpool at the end of the 2023/24 season. The German head coach joined the Reds in October 2015 and has quickly established himself as one of the greatest managers in the club’s history and the sport.

To celebrate his sparkling tenure as Reds boss and his latest achievement of lifting the Carabao Cup in February 2024, GIVEMESPORT has put together a list of Klopp’s 11 greatest moments as Liverpool manager. Without further ado, here are our selections.

Ranking factors

The selections will be based on the following factor:

• significance of the achievement
• whether a trophy was won
• how the result came about

11 Liverpool beat unbeaten Manchester City

Klopp’s side ended a 22-game run from the eventual champions

Liverpool ended Manchester City’s 22-game unbeaten streak as they defeated the eventual title winners 4-3 in front of an electric Anfield crowd. Tipped to become the new ‘Invincibles’, City headed into the affair at the summit of the league table and 15 points clear of second-placed United but Liverpool ripped up the script and blitzed one of the best teams the Premier League had ever seen.

A thunderbolt from Oxlade-Chamberlain nine minutes in set the tone for the afternoon as the home crowd erupted, prompting Klopp to punch the air with elation. Leroy Sane leveled just before the break but the deadly front three of Firmino, Mane and Salah all netted to put the Meresysiders 4-1 up, leaving the visitors stunned. It would end 4-3 after two late goals from Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan but notwithstanding that, Liverpool managed to acclaim victory, something no other side had done up to that stage of the season. The result became even more significant when City went on to amass 100 points for the first time in Premier League history, evincing just how brilliant Klopp’s team were that January afternoon.

10 Liverpool’s 96th minute winner against Everton

Divock Origi struck late to send Anfield into delirium

Liverpool defeated Everton 1-0 in the Merseyside derby thanks to Origi’s 96th-minute winner. The Belgian forward pounced on Jordan Pickford’s error and headed home to send the Anfield crowd into absolute bedlam as Klopp ran onto the pitch to celebrate with goalkeeper Alisson. Victory put the Reds within two points of defending champions and table-toppers Manchester City after 14 games.

Klopp was apologetic post-match for his celebrations: “First of all I have to apologise for my run. I apologised immediately after to Marco Silva, I didn’t want to be disrespectful. My respect to Everton could not be bigger after that game. We knew how strong they were but today they were outstandingly strong and difficult with the way they played.”

The Liverpool boss has always been partial to a lively celebration and perhaps even neutrals will miss his passionate first pumps when he departs Anfield.

9 Liverpool thrash Manchester United 7-0

Mohamed Salah became the Reds’ all-time leading goal-scorer in the Premier League

Despite a pretty underwhelming season by Klopp’s high standards, Liverpool still managed to record their biggest-ever win over their fierce rivals Manchester United as they thumped Erik ten Hag’s side 7-0 at Anfield in March 2023. The hosts only led 1-0 at half-time after Cody Gakpo’s opener two minutes before the interval, so nobody could’ve envisioned what ensued in the second half. Klopp’s team fired home six goals in the space of 41 minutes and completely blew away the high-flying visitors, who were on a run of eight wins from their last 10 outings, including a Carabao Cup final triumph against Newcastle United at Wembley.

The 7-0 drubbing also saw Salah – a Klopp signing – crowned as the club’s all-time leading goalscorer in the Premier League after netting a brace.

8 Comeback against Borussia Dortmund

The Reds advanced to the Europa League final with a 4-3 win

Liverpool’s dramatic comeback win over Borussia Dortmund in April 2016 was one of Klopp’s first iconic moments in his fledgling career with the Reds. The German faced his former Dortmund side in the quarter-finals of the Europa League as his team headed into the second leg with the scores one apiece. Liverpool quickly found themselves 2-0 down within the opening 10 minutes and with half an hour left, Dortmund were winning 3-1 on the night.

Philippe Coutinho sparked the tremendous comeback with a marvelous curling finish before Mamadou Sakho leveled the scores after heading home from James Milner’s corner. Milner turned provider once more as Dejan Lovren climbed high to power a stoppage-time header past Roman Weidenfeller, prompting wild celebrations at Anfield. It was a joyous moment for Klopp in his first season at the club and one that will no doubt live long in the memory of Liverpool supporters.

7 Liverpool beat AS Roma in UCL semi-final

Reds make history with five goals in a last-four leg

In April 2018, Liverpool thrashed AS Roma 5-2 in the Champions League semi-final and became only the second side in the competition’s history to score five in a last-four leg. The Reds were relentless in front of the packed Anfield crowd and embodied everything a typical Klopp side is about. Salah scored a quite brilliant opener against his former club before adding a second on the stroke of half-time, taking his tally to 43 goals for the season.

The fleet-footed Egyptian laid on an assist for Sadio Mane to roll home the third in the second half before Firmino scored twice in quick succession to put the hosts five-nil to the good and firmly in the driving seat.

6 UCL semi-final comeback against Barcelona

Divock Origi and Georginio Wijnaldum score a brace each

Liverpool’s Champions League semi-final victory against Barcelona in May 2019 is perhaps one of the greatest comebacks in the competition’s history. Klopp masterminded the Reds to a remarkable 4-0 win against the Catalan giants after suffering a 3-0 defeat in the first leg. Many thought his side were dead and buried after the demolition at Camp Nou but the German never lost faith.

Anfield was rocking that evening even before a ball had been kicked and the atmosphere only amplified when Origi put the Merseysiders 1-0 up inside the opening seven minutes before Wijnaldum netted two in quick succession to level the tie on aggregate. And of course, to complete the remarkable turnaround, Origi fired home the fourth from a quick Trent Alexander-Arnold corner to send Liverpool through to the Champions League final.

5 Eight-goal thriller vs Chelsea

Liverpool beat the Blues before lifting the Premier League title

Klopp’s Reds defeated the visiting Chelsea 5-3 before enjoying title celebrations after the goal-flooded encounter. Goals from Naby Keita, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Georginio Wijnaldum put the hosts 3-0 up but Olivier Giroud pulled one back in first-half stoppage time. Roberto Firmino added a fourth after the break before Tammy Abraham and Christian Pulisic brought the scoreline to 4-3 in what was turning out to be one of the games of the season.

To round off the thrilling affair, Oxlade-Chamberlain completed a devastating counter-attack to secure victory, kick-starting the celebrations. Liverpool’s 30-year wait to lift the league title had come to an end, masterminded by the brilliant Klopp.

4 Liverpool win the FA Cup

The first time the Reds had won the competition since 2006

Having won every other trophy on offer, only the FA Cup was left for Klopp to win and in 2022, he added it to his sparkling cabinet. Liverpool defeated Chelsea in the final on penalties months after the pair met in the Carabao Cup final, which ended in the same result. The FA Cup triumph was their first since 2006 and it completed a domestic cup double that season for only the second time in the club’s history, only previously achieving such a feat in 2001 under the stewardship of Gerard Houllier.

Klopp described his team as ‘mentality monsters’ post-match: “We are mentality monsters but there were mentality monsters in blue as well – it was one penalty. Chelsea played outstanding but in the end there must be one winner and that was us today.”

3 Klopp’s kids beat Chelsea’s billions

Liverpool win the Carabao Cup in Klopp’s final season

When the likes of Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Alisson, among others, were all ruled out ahead of the Carabao Cup final in February 2024, it seemed like the perfect script for Klopp’s final season in charge at Anfield was set to go to ruins. Instead, the Reds’ battling youngsters stepped up to the plate to defeat what Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville termed as the blue billion-pound bottlejobs in Chelsea thanks to an extra-time header from Virgil van Dijk.

The Dutchman had earlier seen an effort ruled out thanks to an offside call on teammate Wataru Endo, before seizing his and Liverpool’s moment later on in the game to secure the first trophy of Klopp’s final campaign. Given the clear disparity in spending power between the two sides, and the fact Liverpool had to turn to a bunch of unproven but talented youngsters from off the bench, while Mauricio Pochettino could call on multi-million pound signings, ranks this achievement as one of Klopp’s finest.

2 Liverpool pip Man City to the Premier League

First Premier League title in the club’s history

Klopp led the Reds to their first-ever Premier League title in 2020 after his side amassed a colossal 99 points, finishing 18 clear of second-placed Manchester City. Liverpool broke a number of records that year, recording the longest (24) run of successive league victories, the best start ever to a season across the big five leagues (26 wins and a draw from the first 27 games) and reaching 30 league wins quicker than any side in English top-flight history, doing so in 34 games. So it’s fair to say, Klopp’s 2019/20 team will go down as one of the greatest in English football history.

They also won the title with seven games to spare, bettering the previous record of five held by the Citizens. The accomplishments go on and on…

1 Champions League triumph

Klopp’s first trophy with Liverpool

Liverpool claimed their sixth Champions League title in 2019 after defeating fellow Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 in Madrid. Klopp’s rampant Reds stormed into an early lead thanks to Mohamed Salah’s spot-kick and the semi-final star Origi doubled the advantage with three minutes of normal time remaining. The Liverpool boss claimed his first trophy since the German double with Borussia Dortmund in 2012 and it marked the start of a golden era for the club.

“It’s like this is still only the start. This club is about winning. (This triumph is) very important, as you can imagine. It helps our development a lot. So we can make the next step now and leave a big mark. It’s brilliant,” the elated German said post-match.