Jurgen Klopp has announced he will leave Liverpool at the end of the season, a moment which will bring to an end another successful chapter in the club’s history.
Klopp arrived at Anfield late in 2015, tasked with bringing trophies back to the club.
With four still to play for in this campaign there is every chance he could add to those he has already won, which the PA news agency lists here.
2019/20 – Premier League
Perhaps the one which matters the most to Liverpool fans, Klopp returned the first league title in 30 years as his side finished 17 points clear of Manchester City. The sadness for the supporters was that, as it came during lockdown, no fans were present in the stadium to celebrate the success, which was confirmed when nearest rivals City lost at Chelsea. Klopp’s men won 32 of their 38 games that season.
2021/22 – FA Cup
Liverpool’s run to the final saw them beat Shrewsbury, Cardiff, Norwich and Nottingham Forest, before an all-the-more difficult semi-final assignment against Manchester City. Two goals from Sadio Mane secured a somewhat unexpected win, before beating Chelsea 6-5 on penalties in the final.
2021-22 – League Cup
Beating Chelsea on penalties in the FA Cup final may have felt familiar to Klopp for some three months earlier his side had done the same thing to beat the same opposition and win the League Cup. This time it was a lengthier shoot-out, going all the way to the goalkeepers, with Liverpool’s regular reserve, Caoimhin Kelleher, scoring the decisive penalty for an 11-10 success.
2022 – Community Shield
Liverpool’s FA Cup success meant another showdown with Manchester City, this time in the Community Shield, a match played at Leicester due to the Women’s Euro 2022 final at Wembley. Big-money summer signing Darwin Nunez capped a 3-1 victory and another piece of silverware for Klopp, whose men ran out 3-1 winners.
2019 – Champions League
This one ranks alongside the 2020 Premier League as Klopp’s crowing glory; a sixth European title for Liverpool coming thanks to a 2-0 win over Tottenham in an all-English final played in Madrid. Liverpool booked their place in the final with an improbable come-from-behind semi-final win over Lionel Messi’s all-conquering Barcelona team, while on the night goals from Mo Salah and Divock Origi earned them the Champions League title. The Reds enjoyed great success and consistency in the competition under Klopp too, being losing finalists in 2018 and 2022, while they were also runners-up in the 2016 Europa League.
2019 – UEFA Super Cup
Another final, another penalty shoot-out win over Chelsea, this one coming in Istanbul after a 2-2 draw following extra time between the winners of the Champions and Europa Leagues. Mane scored a brace in the match, before Tammy Abraham’s missed penalty gave Liverpool the title.
2019 – Club World Cup
Roberto Firmino ensured Klopp was able to end 2019 with three non-domestic trophies, with the Club World Cup going alongside the Super Cup and Champions League. The Brazilian scored an injury-time winner in a 2-1 semi-final win over Monterrey in Qatar, before his extra-time winner saw off Flamengo to win the final 1-0.
Premier League clubs agree in principle to new spending cap
Premier League clubs have voted in favour of the competition potentially creating a spending cap, according to widespread reports.
The Premier League will now work on the studies and legal analysis required to possibly introduce a cap model from the start of the 2025-26 season onwards.
This would replace the current Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), under which Everton and Nottingham Forest have both been deducted points this season, while Leicester City have been charged with a breach.
At a meeting on Monday, 16 clubs voted in favour of the Premier League performing the required analysis. The model will then be presented to club's at the annual general meeting in June, for another vote.
According to reports, Manchester United, Manchester City and Aston Villa voted against the introduction of a spending cap, which would be tied to a multiple of whatever the lowest-earning side receives via the league's centralised broadcast and commercial deals. Chelsea were said to have abstained.
The cap would form part of the Premier League's "squad cost" rules, which will eventually replace the PSR.
While Everton have secured their safety despite suffering two points deductions worth eight points, Nottingham Forest remain in a relegation battle having been docked four points.
Forest will soon find out the result of their appeal, while Everton were set to have their appeal against the second of their deductions heard in the coming weeks.
Leicester, who have been promoted from the Championship, could face a points deduction next season, having been charged with a breach of the Premier League's regulations during the 2022-23 campaign.
Chelsea, meanwhile, seemingly got around the rules due to their ownership selling two Stamford Bridge hotels to another company within their group.
'We need tactics, but also luck' – Tuchel says Bayern up against Madrid 'aura'
Thomas Tuchel has warned his Bayern Munich team they will not only be facing Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals, but also going up against Los Blancos' European "aura".
While Tuchel will leave the Allianz Arena having suffered the ignominy of overseeing Bayern's first failure to win the Bundesliga title since 2012, he could yet bring Europe's top prize to Bavaria.
Bayern reached the last four with a 3-2 aggregate triumph over Arsenal, but they face a daunting task against the team that eliminated holders Manchester City in the last round.
Bayern are winless in their last seven games against Madrid, losing six and drawing one, and Los Blancos have won on their last three trips to the Allianz Arena – the longest winning streak ever recorded by a visiting team at Bayern in European Cup/Champions League history.
Coming up against Madrid in a competition they regard as their own, Tuchel believes, presents an additional challenge.
"When you're playing against Real Madrid, you're also up against the aura and the legend that surrounds them," Tuchel said at Monday's pre-match press conference.
"Obviously we need tactics, but also some luck. You can achieve a lot with tactics. The approach is the car, and the players drive it.
"We need to find a good balance and moments where we have solutions. The players also need freedom to bring it to life.
"But obviously we also need some luck in the game. We need to coax out that luck a bit as well."
Bayern versus Madrid is already the most played fixture in European Cup/Champions League history, taking place 26 times with 24 of those coming in the knockout stages.
Tuchel believes the tie would have been a fitting final, adding: "The semi-final already feels a bit like the final. My approach is to line up like a final.
"We won't approach it with the background that there's still a game to play. We want to play the game in isolation. We have the freedom, we'll put everything in tomorrow and then we'll see."
'I know my worth and I will show it' – Antony vows to silence Man Utd critics
Manchester United winger Antony has pledged to silence his critics after ending his long wait for a Premier League goal on Saturday, saying: "I know my worth and I will show it."
Antony has struggled since swapping Ajax for Old Trafford in an £86million ($108m) deal last year, only managing five goals and three assists in 52 Premier League appearances.
The Brazilian failed to net in his first 26 league games this season before ending his goal drought against Burnley on Saturday, though Zeki Amdouni's late penalty earned the Clarets a 1-1 draw.
Antony was also roundly criticised for taunting Coventry City's players in the aftermath of United's FA Cup semi-final win over the Sky Blues earlier this month, with the Red Devils inching through on penalties after surrendering a 3-0 lead in a 3-3 draw.
Having struggled to live up to expectations since arriving in England, he was asked by The Athletic whether his price tag had put him under additional pressure, but he says that is not the case.
"It doesn't really impact me because I know my worth," Antony said. "The money is the money and obviously everyone speaks about it, but no one would if the performances were at the top.
"It's just a way of working harder, knowing I can get better, I know my worth and I will show it. The critics are going to exist, and they make me want to work harder and prove it to myself first.
"I'm going to keep working, giving everything for the group because it's most important to have a good mentality and to be focused."
Saturday's draw officially ended United's hopes of a top-four finish, heightening speculation regarding the future of manager Erik ten Hag.
While Antony accepts United have not been good enough this season, he is hopeful they can end the campaign on a high with another FA Cup final against Manchester City to come.
"It's been a very tough year for me and the team, the results are not ones we expected," Antony added.
"I am someone who takes criticism very well and I want to work on it, and I think we all have to focus on finishing the season the best we can.
"We still have five games and we have to think game by game, get better and go into the final in the best way possible to win it."
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