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“A special one, 100 percent” is how Jürgen Klopp summed up 2020 as Liverpool prepare to play their last Anfield match of the year.
The Reds host West Bromwich Albion on Sunday with the aim of strengthening their grip at the top of the Premier League table in their defense of the title.
The crown, of course, was won in June, ending a 30-year wait; However, just like in everyday life, the COVID-19 pandemic has also had a considerable impact on the entire game.
Not least in terms of games to be played behind closed doors, though Liverpool will have 2,000 fans present against West Brom for a third straight tie at Anfield.
Klopp was asked about 2020 as a whole and the benefits of fan presence inside the stadium during a press conference Thursday, as well as discussing who his team’s first-choice penalty taker is.
Read on to see what the manager told reporters …
On how you would reflect on the year 2020 …
As a special, 100 percent. People would say to me from time to time, ‘My God, you became a champion and it was 2020 and nobody could celebrate …’ and things like that. In fact, I saw it the other way around: imagine if the year had been like this and we had not been champions. So the year would have been really silly! For me, we had some highlights in a very difficult year. In a very difficult year for everyone, we set some highlights for our fans at least, for ourselves, for our families and for our friends. This is how I see it. It was a special year; I had many experiences that I didn’t want to have in my life, but I had to, I did and I will use it, hopefully. And we create some memories, which I will never forget for sure for good reasons. That is the year. At 12 o’clock on New Years Eve and you wish all the best for the New Years and things like that, never before in my life was it so serious when [will] Say it because I really wish that 2021 would be better for all of us than 2020. Maybe we can, if we all wish the same this time, all of us, the same, we can produce some positive energy and it will help!
On the benefit of having 2000 fans inside Anfield …
In our specific case, it is a great benefit from an emotional point of view. It’s just nice, it’s much nicer. I think now, in terms of results, it hasn’t made the biggest difference. We played in front of a full stadium and we won, then an empty stadium and then 2,000 and we won most of the games, not all of them, but some of them. You can see the big advantage, but I wish everyone could have it, honestly. I don’t know how long we’ll have it and that’s what this year showed us: enjoy the good things while they’re there because you probably shouldn’t take them for granted. Never, ever in my life, will I take a full stadium for granted, one hundred percent. After working in Mainz, Dortmund and Liverpool, I don’t think I’ve played a home game for a long, long time in a sold-out stadium. I enjoyed it, but I didn’t think about it [and] how special it is. That, for sure, I will do much more in the future than I did in the past.
On Liverpool’s penalty shooters …
James Milner is the number one penalty taker, but when James isn’t playing, then it’s Mo. When Millie is on the field, he can decide. As always, sometimes you don’t feel like a thousand percent or think, ‘He’s already scored two’ and this sort of thing. That didn’t change, we didn’t talk about it for a long, long time. Most of the time, Millie was probably not on the field, but I think I remember at least one time when Millie was on the field and she gave it to Mo. net after any player on my team who threw the ball. Millie gave us a pretty impressive amount of penalties that he finished off and so did Mo. So for me that’s fine and that’s how it is at the moment, that’s the decision.
On Liverpool and Everton as the only two Premier League clubs that can have fans inside the stadium for home games …
What can I say [is] we have nothing to do with it. As a club, we have nothing to do with it. Not that we have anything to do with the decision. It probably says something nice about the people of Liverpool. We had initial massive tests four or five weeks ago, maybe longer than that. I’m not a specialist so I don’t know exactly how influential that was. Like I said, I wish everyone could experience it. I don’t see it as a great advantage, but it is more pleasant. I understand that everyone else wants to have the best possible way and if we have 2000 and no one else has 100 or whatever, yeah, I imagine people will talk about that. From my point of view, it may continue for a long time that we can keep people in the stadium, but with the new level system, it doesn’t seem very likely. There are still bigger problems and as long as the decision makers allow us to bring in people, I think that is a very good sign. The moment they say that it is no longer possible, we have to wait for the next moment when it is possible again.
