“Where’s it next season? Istanbul? Book the hotel.” Jurgen Klopp’s response to defeat in May’s Champions League final may have done wonders for Turkey’s tourism industry but it also showed much about his psychology. Klopp tends to turn a negative into a positive. In the process, he can feel prophetic.
The morning after his previous Champions League final loss to Real Madrid, in 2018, he wondered at Kyiv airport if Liverpool would return to such a stage 12 months later. They duly did, winning in 2019. Liverpool can now hope history repeats itself again, that a brush with glory one year will be followed by an embrace the next.
