A punk singer and fake European Cup: how Klopp got Liverpool back on track

There were tears, there was a fake trophy presentation with Steven Gerrard’s vase and a famous German singer lay in the rain outside Jürgen Klopp’s home after Liverpool last encountered Real Madrid in a Champions League final. It goes without saying that the Liverpool manager wants a different ending in Paris. But as a starting point for the recovery of a team that could win a second Champions League in four seasons on Saturday, there is a strong, sozzled case to be made for those moments in Formby on the morning of 27 May 2018.

Liverpool would prefer to forget the 3-1 defeat in Kyiv the night before – Sergio Ramos, Mohamed Salah, Salt Bae, Lorius Karius and Gareth Bale is a sufficient recap – and the morning after might have gone the same way for Klopp but for a video of him partying with the lead singer of Die Toten Hosen going viral.

“We saw the European Cup, Madrid had all the luck, we swear we’ll keep on being cool, we’ll bring it back to Liverpool,” sang the Liverpool manager in his kitchen alongside Andreas Frege, aka Campino. No masterpiece, certainly, but as a means of showing the world that Liverpool were ready to move on, it was inspired. The final line proved prophetic when Klopp got his hands on the trophy in Madrid, beating Tottenham in the final 12 months later.

“It started as one of the worst nights in my life,” Klopp recalls. His recollections of a hazy night are worth reading in full. “The flight back was obviously horrendous. The feeling was down. The families were in another plane, and the worst moment was still to come – facing family and friends.

“When we arrived at Melwood [Liverpool’s then training ground] on our bus, all the wives, girlfriends, friends, everybody was crying. Unbelievable. We were