Alisson Becker and Virgil van Dijk: Klopp's 'protective shield'?

This achievement broke the dominance of Bayern Munich, and more importantly, he turned Dortmund into the team with the most attractive playing style in the world at that time.

Remarkable achievements

Liverpool are in much better form than their opponents. Photo: Liverpoolfc.com

During his 7 years at Dortmund (2008 - 2015), Klopp brought home 3 German Super Cups, 1 National Cup, 2 Bundesligas, and 5 runner-up finishes in tournaments, including a UEFA Champions League runner-up title. An extremely impressive achievement for a coach in his 40s.

At the same time in England, Liverpool, a football team with one of the most glorious histories in the land of fog, was still struggling to regain its past glory.

In 7 years (from 2018 – 2015), Liverpool changed 4 coaches, Roy Hodgson replaced Benitez, Kenny Dalglish replaced Roy Hodgson, and Brendan Rodgers replaced Dalglish. All they got was one English League Cup, one FA Cup runner-up and 2 Premier League runner-up finishes. All those titles were not enough for the team’s ambition and the officials at Anfield knew that they had not found the right person for The Kop.

On 9 October 2015, Liverpool signed Jurgen Klopp and almost immediately that season, the Dortmund effect appeared at Anfield with a type of football that the team's fans had never seen before.

Klopp's fiery and disciplined style of play brought Liverpool to two finals in his first season, but unfortunately he lost both matches and had to accept second place (losing to Man City in the Capital One Cup and losing to Sevilla in the Europan Cup), but Liverpool fans saw what they needed in the team. Klopp was signed to a 6-year contract, a trust from the owners.

Klopp's ability to see people

The whole football world shudders at Klopp's generosity, but he has his reasons. Photo: Liverpoolfc.com

In an effort to rebuild the team and make Liverpool great again, Klopp brought Sadio Mane (2016) and Mohamed Salah (2017) to Anfield and the duo proved to the world that Klopp's ability to see people is amazing. Together with Firmino, they have become one of the most dangerous attacking trios in Europe since 2017.

But things did not stop there, on January 1, 2018, Klopp brought center-back Virgil van Dijk to Anfield for 75 million pounds, a price that even Man City had to shake their heads in dismay. The whole football world shuddered at Klopp's willingness to spend, but he had his reasons.

In the 2017/18 season, Liverpool entered the UEFA Champions League final with an unbelievable series of achievements, they beat Porto 5-0 in the round of 16, beat Man City 5-1 in the Quarterfinals and beat Roma 7-6 in the Semifinals.

In the final against Real Madrid, Liverpool lost 1-3 to the Spanish Royal team. Klopp once again finished second. It is worth mentioning that in this defeat, Liverpool goalkeeper Karius gave away 2 goals to Real, a throw straight at Benzema's feet and a drop-kick after Bale's normal long-range shot. Klopp's team could not recover after such "self-inflicted" situations.

Klopp saw what his team was missing, which was a top-class goalkeeper. He had a world-class striker in Salah, a top-class center-back in Van Dijk, he needed another goalkeeper to match. Alisson Becker was the one who caught Klopp's eye.

The Alisson Becker deal made people laugh, saying Klopp didn't know how to... bargain. The price he paid Roma for Becker was £67 million. Liverpool, within 8 months, owned the most expensive center-back and goalkeeper in the world.

Alisson Becker is the one who caught Klopp's eye. Photo: VPF

But the performances of Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker this season have made Klopp proud and silenced all those who laughed at his transfer policy. “It was worth every penny” is what can be said about these two contracts.

Liverpool are still battling it out with Man City for the Premier League title and their defence has conceded just 22 goals in 37 games. Both Becker and Van Dijk have played all 37 games.

Most recently, Virgil van Dijk was voted player of the year by the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA), in addition to countless other titles voted on by sports newspapers.

Alisson Becker also showed excellent form with the ability to control the penalty area, judge situations and have excellent footwork skills.

Liverpool reached the Champions League Final and surely no one will forget his last-minute save against Napoli in the group stage, a match that Liverpool had to win to advance. In the second leg of the Semi-Final against Barcelona, ​​Becker once again frustrated Messi, Alba, Suarez..., thereby helping Liverpool create a comeback that will go down in the club's history.

Witnessing Alisson's form throughout the season, Klopp had to exclaim that“If I knew he was this good, I would have paid double.”. That alone is enough to show Alisson's influence this season.

Klopp has been runner-up twice in the Champions League with two teams, and once in the Europa League with Liverpool. That has led people to call him “The Great Runner-Up” and Jurgen certainly doesn’t like that title.

This time, Klopp has all the elements to win the championship. Liverpool is in much better form than its opponents, his team is rated higher than Tottenham, and above all, he has in his hands the "protective shield" Becker vs Van Dijk to cover up the fatal weaknesses that Liverpool has committed, and the "shield" will change Klopp's destiny.

It's time to win, Jurgen!