UEFA champions LEAGUE

Can the Reds Makes is Seven?

Sporting success is often cyclical. A team or individual dominates a sport or event for a sustained period of time before a new champion emerges. Pick almost any sport you like and you can see similar patterns.
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Over in the NFL, Pittsburgh Steelers won four SuperBowls in six years in the 1970s, New England Patriots have won three of the last five. Down at the All England Club in Wimbledon, Pete Sampras clinched seven out of eight gentlemen's single titles between 1993 and 2000 before Roger Federer won five in a row from 2003 to 2007.
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Formula One is littered with multiple world champions each having their own era from Juan Manuel Fangio in the 1950s to Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton during the last decade. While even here on Merseyside a horse by the name of Tiger Roll has won consecutive renewals of the Aintree Grand National and could yet surpass legendary 1970s horse Red Rum by winning three-in-a-row. Red Rum won three in four years.

Such eras of dominance have also been common in football, not least when Liverpool Football Club finished first or second in 18 of the 19 top-flight seasons played between 1972/73 and 1990/91, winning 11 league titles during two decades of unparalleled success. Which brings us to the European Cup, aka the UEFA Champions League.
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Between 1955/56, the season the European Cup was founded, and 1992/93, the season it was expanded and reformed as the UEFA Champions League, eight different clubs became champions of Europe for two consecutive seasons or more.

Add those titles up and you've got 21 European Cups won by eight clubs that retained it at least once in 37 seasons. And that's without mentioning those clubs also won another five European Cups between them during that era (AC Milan 1963 & 1969, Real Madrid CF 1966, Liverpool FC 1981 & 1984). It provides conclusive proof that when a team has been champions of Europe once, they gain the experience, confidence and know-how to do it again.
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Things changed during the UEFA Champions League era when, from 1992/93 to 2015/16, not a single club retained their status as champions of Europe despite several clubs reaching multiple finals.

Perhaps the increased competition, with up to four clubs from certain countries being allowed to compete in the expanded tournament, was the decisive factor, but then Real Madrid CF – the club that lifted the first five European Cups – ended that spell by winning the UEFA Champions League in 2016, 2017 and 2018. The third of those victories is significant for Liverpool FC. We were there to see it.

Losing to Zinedine Zidane's side in Kiev stung. The travelling Kop had one almighty party in Shevchenko Park before kick-off, but it wasn't to be the Reds' night on the pitch with Gareth Bale's second-half double proving decisive after Sadio Mané cancelled out Karim Benzema's opener.

It still hurts now when you think back to some of the incidents during that night in Ukraine, but what happened in the immediate aftermath of defeat shaped what was to follow.
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“I actually decided that night that it would not really...keep me,” explained Jürgen Klopp. “You saw the game, it happened like it happened. What can you do? Yes, disappointment, being sad, all that stuff. But when we arrived in England again I was already over it.”

Liverpool FC signed Brazilian midfielder Fabinho from AS Monaco the following day. A new chapter was already being written.

Twelve months later, Klopp and his players proved how 'over it' they were by returning to the UEFA Champions League final in Madrid – following a truly remarkable semi-final comeback against FC Barcelona – and beating Tottenham Hotspur FC to lift the European Cup for a sixth time.

Less than an hour after that glorious 2-0 win, Klopp was asked, in his post-match press conference, if Liverpool FC could retain the trophy in 2020? Especially with the final being held in Istanbul...
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“I told UEFA already; we will be there!” he said with a smile. “Give me a few minutes! We know that sometimes we carry the burden of history and making Istanbul happen again will be a target I would say, but it will be difficult. We will go for everything and see if we get something.”
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Istanbul's legacy has already grown this season with the Reds winning the UEFA Super Cup on the banks of the Bosphorus against Chelsea FC on penalties. A return to the Atatürk Olimpiyat Stadı for another UEFA Champions League final, 15 years on since that remarkable six-minute comeback and shoot-out success against AC Milan, would be quite a story. But one that is achievable.  

Liverpool FC have never reached three consecutive European Cup finals before, but when you factor the UEFA Europa League in Klopp has led the Reds to three European finals in three attempts – Basel 2016, Kiev 2018, Madrid 2019.

He has also kept the vast majority of his UEFA Champions League winning squad together, remains unbeaten in any European game at Anfield – with KRC Genk and SSC Napoli still to visit in Group E – and now has the experience of being a European Cup winner at a time when the era of club's failing to retain football's most iconic trophy has ended.

Why shouldn't we dream of going seven up in Istanbul? Because for Liverpool Football Club and Jürgen Klopp, anything is possible.