Liverpool's historic 19th league title triumph has been celebrated in a new Premier League film and supporters can watch it from Friday.
‘Klopp’s champions: A Liverpool Love Story’ focuses on how Jurgen Klopp ended 30 years of hurt for fans of the club when he led the Reds to their first title since the inception of the Premier League in the 2019/20 season. The film, which is released at 11am today, is the 10th and final film in the Premier League's ‘Iconic Stories’ series to celebrate the League’s 30th anniversary.
It begins with Klopp casting his mind back to how he became Liverpool manager in 2015, when he said: "It's the biggest honour I can imagine to be here at one of the biggest clubs in the world. I'm a totally normal guy.”
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Klopp discusses how it was all about changing the mindset of the club in his early days in the role, saying: “History was only the base for us. It's not allowed to be carried around all the time. So we cannot constantly be remembered and reminded that we are obviously not good enough. I'm not Kenny Dalglish and the boys are not Stevie G, Ian Rush or whatever. We are just who we are.”
Having embedded his methods and turned Liverpool into title contenders, defender Virgil van Dijk discusses the near miss of a year earlier when the Reds were pipped by a point to the title by Manchester City, even though they had amassed 97 points and only lost one game all season. “That season we were outstanding,” he says. “Consistent but, there's a team like Manchester City. So it was always going to be tough.”
But the threat of Klopp's Liverpool had not been lost on Pep Guardiola, who knew that City's challenge from Merseyside was not going to disappear. In the film he says: “We face an incredible contender, a team, an opponent like Liverpool. We just don't know what was going to happen.”
Despite the disappointment of going so close, Trent Alexander-Arnold sensed that something huge was around the corner. “Just knowing how close we came. It's very, very rare, you get 97 points, only lose one game in a season and you don't win the League. So we did feel hard done by but it was kind of that realisation of: this is massively doable.”
Doable it was, with the Reds returning the following season hell bent on doing the business. A three-month football suspension thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic held up their coronation, but Klopp's side were not be denied eventually winning the league with 99 points - 18 clear of City.
Reflecting on their achievement, Alexander-Arnold says: “To be able to bring that home for the fans, for the club, for everyone. I feel honoured every single day,” while Klopp added: “This group is so special. It's unbelievable.”
Fans can watch the full film from 11am today (Friday, August 19) HERE and are invited to share their own favourite memories of the past 30 years of the Premier League over social media using #PL30. The ‘Iconic Stories’ series includes 10 films looking at some of the most memorable matches. You can watch them all at premierleague.com/pl30.
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