It’s easy to forget that the Premier League was in danger of losing its fourth Champions League spot when Jurgen Klopp first joined Liverpool in 2015.
Poor performances from English sides in Europe had left them third in the UEFA association coefficients in September 2015, just four points ahead of Italy at a time when only the three top-ranking associations received four qualifying spots .
Fortunately for Premier League clubs, since then they have fared rather better in Europe to boost England’s European coefficient. And Klopp has played a major role in this, leading Liverpool to a Europa League final in 2016, Champions League final in 2018, winning the European Cup in 2019, and reaching at least the semi-finals this year following last year’s quarter-final loss to Real Madrid.
