London (AFP)

Jürgen Klopp does not yet have his statue like Bill Shankly, but by leading Liverpool to a first title of champion of England for 30 years, the German follows a little more in the footsteps of the legendary coach of the Reds of the years 1960-70 .

"If someone wants to help Liverpool FC they have to go from someone who doubts to someone who believes," said the 53-year-old German for his very first day as coach of the Reds almost five years ago .

Morale was at half mast on the banks of the Mersey in autumn 2015.

Traumatized by the title they had let slip in the last three days of the 2013-14 season, the Reds had only finished sixth the following season, and pointed to an unworthy 10th place when Klopp replaced Brendan Rodgers.

But with his energy and his charisma, the German technician has started a transformation of the club which evokes that of the 60s.

The Liverpool entrusted to Shankly in 1959 had been in even worse shape for five seasons in D2.

But in 15 years of reign, the Scotsman brought up the Reds and offered them three championship titles, their first English Cup and especially infrastructure and functioning which then enabled his assistant and successor Bob Paisley to take the Reds three times to the roof of Europe.

- "If you are second, you are nothing" -

"A great communicator, a guy who makes the show, a pack leader": the qualities of Shankly, described by Graeme Souness, one of the executives of the Paisley era, are also those of Klopp.

But if the latter "suits Liverpool so well, it is because it feels the emotion of the place. Liverpool is an emotionally charged club, with its history, its tragedies (the dramas of the Heysel in 1985 and of Hillsborough in 1989, note) It is this emotion that you perceive when you go to Anfield and that you hear "You'll Never Walk Alone +", the club's anthem, continues Souness.

"He embodies all that makes this club. Even without being from the city, the country or the corner, he sticks to the club", had judged Trent Alexander-Arnold, pure product of the city and the club, become under his orders l 'one of the best lateral in the world.

Coming from another club with a close relationship with its public - Borussia Dortmund and its famous "yellow wall" - Klopp knew that the fervor of Anfield's kop would be a major asset.

Miner at 14, corporal of the Air Force during the Second World War, assumed socialist, Shankly was undoubtedly even more passionate than Klopp.

"For a player to be good enough for Liverpool, he must be ready to sink into a brick wall and come out on the other side ready to fight," said the Scot, never stingy with good words. Or "if you are first, you are first. But if you are second, you are nothing".

- A very present ghost -

A maxim that sticks to the German, one of whose main strengths is to see in his failures lessons, challenges, an opportunity to bounce higher, stronger.

A year after the lost Champions League final against Real Madrid, he won the 2019 C1 against Tottenham - a trophy that Shankly never touched.

A year after failing at one point in Manchester City, despite the staggering total of 97 points in one season, he conquered the ultimate Grail: the title of champion of England, which the Reds have dreamed of since 1990.

"I will never compare myself to this guy," assured Klopp the day his team broke the record for consecutive home wins (22) which dated from the 60s.

With his statue in front of the kop, under which is written "He made people happy" and his ashes scattered on the lawn after his death, the spirit of Shankly - which is also the name of the main group of supporters of the kop -, indeed haunts every corner of the LFC.

But with this title, Klopp has already made a small place in the hearts of supporters.

© 2020 AFP