As selfie requests go, it could hardly have been timed worse.
A crestfallen Jurgen Klopp was making his way from the press room at the NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, having just attempted to explain Liverpool’s Champions League final defeat to the world’s media.
“I did the best I could and that was not good enough,” the Reds boss had said. “Sorry.” He looked how his fans felt; low, sore, empty.
Then came a pair of enthusiastic locals, eager for their snap. Klopp, a gentleman, obliged but his face said everything. Not now, guys.
That was how Liverpool’s last European campaign ended, in tears, in disappointment, in regret. Now, 114 days on from Kiev, they are ready to go again. The hope, the glitz, the glamour, the dreams, the drama, the glory, the pain – bring it on. All of it.
“Champions League is back and we’re hungrier than ever,” was the message posted by Trent Alexander-Arnold on social media on Monday. Paris Saint-Germain, the French champions and one of the tournament favourites, are the first obstacle to be overcome. Anfield, as ever, expects.
Those worried about a Champions League hangover needn’t be. Liverpool have started the new campaign by winning their opening five league matches for the first time since 1990. They passed a big test against Tottenham at Wembley on Saturday, and are ready for another on Tuesday night against a PSG side that, for all its investment, has underachieved on the European stage.
“Even if I was not the manager, I would watch this game 100 per cent!” Klopp said at his pre-match press conference at Anfield yesterday. He knows the threat the Parisiens carry with the likes of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, he respects the qualities of their manager, Thomas Tuchel, and he warned his side they will need “an unbelievable work rate” if they are to start their Group C campaign in a positive manner.
He knows, too, that the spotlight is very much on his side this season. Last season’s surprise package are a known quantity this time around, which brings with it its own challenges. Namely, can they maintain the levels of last season, and have they been able to fix the flaws which were exposed in Kiev?
For the latter, Klopp turned to the transfer market in the summer. “We knew what we needed,” he said, and he finished the window more than satisfied with his club’s business.
Of the four new recruits, Alisson Becker was the most significant, the Brazilian briefly becoming the world’s most expensive goalkeeper when joining from Roma. Liverpool believe they have landed one of Europe’s best, the kind of presence they have lacked between the sticks for too long, someone to calm them, as well as “save their lives”.
Unlike last season, Klopp will resist the urge to switch his goalkeepers for European games. Bad news for Simon Mignolet, who must make do with Carabao Cup run-outs at best, but an understandable shift in policy from the manager.
The Premier League and the Champions League are the priorities, and that means Alisson plays. The 26-year-old reached the semi-finals of last season’s competition, of course, only to run into an Anfield whirlwind.
He will not expect to be quite so busy this season. Liverpool’s defending has often been their Achilles heel in recent years, but they appear to have made significant strides in the last six months.
In fact, since the low of a 4-1 defeat to Spurs last October, they have conceded fewer goals and kept more clean sheets than any other Premier League side. They are more compact, defend set-pieces better and have cut out a lot of the individual errors which had undermined their progress.
They still attack in numbers, using Roberto Firmino’s guile and the pace of Sadio Mane and Mo Salah, but they appear less open, more controlled. The work ‘in the transition’ is better, more consistent.