After leading Liverpool back to the summit of both English and European football during his eight seasons as Anfield, Jurgen Klopp’s legacy is already assured on Merseyside.
The German will depart this summer as one of the great Reds bosses, beloved by Liverpool fans all over the world. But aside from his connection with the fanbase and the trophies he’s delivered, his hard-pressing, heavy-metal teams will also leave a lasting impression on those who witnessed them in action.
Legendary Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher believes one trio in particular came to define the manager’s time at the club. “When you look back at Jurgen’s time at Liverpool, there’s going to be two or three things that really stand out, and that front three – Sadio Mané, Mo Salah and Roberto Firmino – is one of those things,” Carragher tells FourFourTwo now. “That’s something people will always talk about, for decades to come.”
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Klopp inherited Firmino when taking over from previous Liverpool gaffer Brendan Rodgers in October 2015, before making Mané his first major signing in the summer of 2016. His iconic strike force was completed with the £36.5m signing of Salah, from Roma, in 2017. The three would terrorise defences together over the following six seasons.
“The2017/18 season was when that trio emerged as an attacking force,” recalls Carragher. “The original team Klopp built centred around that trio, and that was also the season that we became a European giant again. In some ways, we always are, no matter how badly things might be going domestically, but you have to keep proving it and we did it again that year.
“Roma represented a pretty decent draw in the Champions League semi-finals and we managed to get back to a first final since 2007. It didn’t go the way that they had hoped in the final against Real Madrid, losing 3-1 in Kyiv, but getting there was a sign that Liverpool were back at the very highest level.”
Mané was the first of the trio to leave Anfield, departing for Bayern Munich in 2022. Firmino flew the nest a year later – heading to the Saudi Pro League. Salah’s future looks uncertain but, whatever happens, their impact on Merseyside will never be forgotten.
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