FeatureFive things we learned from 'The Last Debrief' between Klopp and his coaching staff
Jürgen Klopp and his coaching staff sat down together in front of our cameras to reflect on their incredible time at Liverpool.
The boss was joined by Pepijn Lijnders, Peter Krawietz, Vitor Matos, John Achterberg and Jack Robinson for a hugely entertaining chat about eight-and-a-half years of memories, trophies and laughs.
Here are five things we learned from The Last Debrief...
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Watch on YouTube'It's a miracle, it's a fairy tale'
All six went through different journeys on the way to reaching Liverpool – but none will profess to enjoying a playing career at the highest echelons of the game.
With that mind, the fact they have reached the peak in a coaching capacity still amazes them.
Klopp explains: "If you look at us here, where we are coming from, nobody played [at the] top level.
"Jack played together with Millie [James Milner] in the U16s and then he stopped growing! Great goalkeeper, future there but then that's just how it can be.
"Pep finished his footballing career at 17 because of a knee injury, got directly into coaching.
"Vitor finished a day after he started his footballing career. [He is] 36 now and worked already in China. That's just to work in the business, that's the business we are in – where so many people want to be where we are.
"My story, everybody knows the way I tried to play football. Pete was the Jürgen Klopp of the Verbandsliga. The Verbandsliga is the seventh league, around about that, like amateur football. Great throw-in, great header and a winner!
"The only one who had a decent career is John actually. You probably have to read his book, which is a challenge in itself, and then you will know it. He started playing for Utrecht and was a mailman [at the] same time.
"Then making all the steps and, in the end, you win the league, Champions League, Club World Cup, the Super Cup, FA Cup and League Cup with Liverpool. We know how lucky we are.
"It's super, super, super-special that we are sitting here and you put all these cameras in our faces. It is. It's absolutely insane. It's a miracle, it's a fairy tale, however you want to see it."
The team behind the team
In order for them to get where they are, various sacrifices have had to be made.
It makes the achievements all the more sweeter, knowing the hard work put in and celebrating with those who have been part of the ride.
Matos says: "Maybe for the families it's not so good as well – I think we should give a big compliment to them as well because everything that we achieved here, they are completely part of it.
"I was living one of the best moments of my life and my wife was taking care of the two kids that I have at home.
"I'm just an example, all of us have families."
How Klopp broke a trophy
One of the highs of the tenure came in December 2019 in Qatar when Klopp's side won the FIFA Club World Cup for the first time in Liverpool's rich history.
And the boss reveals he may have got a little too excited at the triumph.
He shares: "Little side story, this trophy I cracked during the celebrations. I had it like that and [cracking noise], 'Oh'. I gave it to somebody else.
"I don't think I ever told that to anybody. But now I see it and think, 'That was me!' Sorry! You have to win it to break it."
The name of their group chat
During a discussion about the relentless pursuit of lifting trophies, we learn about the evolving name of the coaching staff's WhatsApp group.
Klopp says: "We have a WhatsApp group, that changed. All of the prizes we won is the name of the group, so we had to extend that from time to time."
"There's no space!" Lijnders adds.
The Premier League, Champions League, FIFA Club World Cup, UEFA Super Cup, Emirates FA Cup, Carabao Cup (twice) and FA Community Shield winners
Priming Origi for his Barcelona heroics
Reflecting on a number of memorable highlights, the incredible comeback against Barcelona in the semi-final of the 2018-19 Champions League comes into focus.
Klopp and Krawietz detail how they prepared Divock Origi to take centre stage at Anfield, as he went on to score the first and last goal of the famous night.
The boss recalls: "We watch them [the opposition] from all angles, plenty of times – especially in a game like that – and now you want to just give the right information in a really short period of time.
"We were discussing, 'Come on, what do we tell Div what he has to do? And from what point on do we let him just fly?' You give tactical instructions, that's really important, but if you give too many, the player doesn't have an iPad on the pitch and thinks, 'Oh, he said that as well, I forget that.' He must be on point. So, that's coaching. We really discussed it exactly that morning."
Krawietz continued: "Barcelona [in] the year before lost in Rome after winning the first [leg]. Edin Dzeko was a good role model for Divock that day because he scored the first one. We just told him, 'This is what happened, this is what he did. Try this again and it would be helpful to score a goal pretty early in the game.'"
This article has been automatically translated and, while all reasonable efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, some errors in translation are possible. Please refer to the original English-language version of the article for the official version.