Liverpool (AFP)
Thirty years that the "Reds" have been waiting for this! 2020 may well be the year of the long-awaited national title for Liverpool that Jürgen Klopp took to the roof of Europe and the World in 2019, and now focused on winning back the English Championship.
The 1-0 victory after extra time in the final against Flamengo on Saturday in Qatar confirmed that Liverpool is the best club in the world.
But if he has finally won a title that has escaped him three times, only one thing obsesses the Mersey club: to restore its domination on the domestic level.
Last year, the blow was passed very close. It took one point for the Premier League trophy to reach the banks of the Mersey for the first time since 1989/1990.
And if a few days later, a continental title had come to reward an already incredible season, it did not entirely erase the immense frustration of the supporters of the "Reds".
But much like the victory in the Champions League 2019 erased the defeat in the final the previous season, Liverpool continued on the path traced by Klopp: insistence as key to success.
After streaking 9 straight league wins in the feverish final sprint with Manchester City last year, the Reds added 8 to the list at the start of the championship, bringing the club record to 17 straight wins.
Even more impressive, the Reds have lost only once in their last 56 matches in the Premier League, for 8 draws, which represents almost 89% of points taken over this period.
- Klopp, the new Shankly? -
Since the start of 2019-2020, it's even 96% (49/51) and the Reds' point record established a year ago (97) could well fall in May.
The competition is released: the closest chaser, Leicester, is 10 points away, the title holder, City, at 11, Chelsea at 20, and Tottenham at 23.
The pessimists will always be able to evoke the mad climbs of Manchester United on Newcastle in 1996 or that of Arsenal on the Red Devils in 1998. But only a cataclysm could upset the deal.
This assessment bears the mark of Jürgen Klopp (52), who has been at the club for 4 years but already on the way to becoming one of his most significant figures since Bill Shankly, the legendary coach from 1959 to 1974.
With his passion, his energy, the great consistency of his choices in recruitment and his attention to the smallest detail, he made a groping team in the early 2010s the current winning machine.
- "No idea how it works ..." -
With him, Liverpool reached a Europa League final (2016), before being a finalist (2018) then winner of the C1 (2019), but no trophy in England.
False modesty or reluctance to reveal his secrets, the German with a bright smile says he is almost the first surprised of his success.
"I would write a book on the things I do if I knew why I do them (...) but I can never write a book because I have no idea how it works," he said. he recently entrusted to The Athletic website.
Even his talks often praised by players seem to escape him.
"When we start a meeting with the team, the only thing I'm sure to say is my first sentence," he continued. "Generally I don't remember what I said. If the guys didn't tell the press afterwards, I wouldn't even know I said that."
Liverpool, meanwhile, was won over by the technician and recently extended its contract by two years until 2024.
"When I was appointed in the fall of 2015, I felt like we were made for each other; in fact, now I feel like I underestimated this feeling" , commented the German, under the spell of the "Reds".
It remains to continue this "love story" with a "happy end" in the English Championship ...
© 2019 AFP