Jurgen Klopp believes Liverpool’s third place finish last season was as good as their Premier League title win the year before. The Reds ended a 30-year-wait for a league title after they was crowned champions for the 2019/20 season.
Jurgen Klopp said: “The biggest problem was that we had to play without a defence. Van Dijk, Matip and Gomez are out,” the Reds boss told German publication Bild when reflecting on last season. It took us until we could deal with it. Our structure was just gone. We couldn’t play what was normal for us before. Third place is just as high as the championship title the year before.”
Liverpool made it two wins from two in the Premier League on Saturday as goals from Diogo Jota and Sadio Mane sealed a 2-0 win over Burnley.
Jurgen Klopp said: “You can’t really do more than that. It’s all cool. We’ve got off to a decent start so far, but no longer. The game against Burnley was super intense. We controlled it as well as we can control it. So far everything is fine, nothing to complain about.”
Saturday’s game was also the first time the Reds have played in front of a near full Anfield since the coronavirus pandemic struck. And Klopp admits there were times when he had to hold back the tears due to the incredible atmosphere Reds supporters created.
Jurgen Klopp said: “Extraordinary. Great. We haven’t had it for so long, we had 529 days. I never would have thought that I would have to go without it for so long. That was the start and it should hopefully stay that way so that the situation around the world improves so that you don’t only see such pictures in English stadiums. There were moments when it was difficult to hold back tears. It’s not just the salt in the soup, it’s the soup too. It’s only a real game if you can enjoy the atmosphere.”
