Jurgen Klopp says he messaged Liverpool players Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams after The Reds reached the Champions League final.
The Liverpool boss spoke to Sky Sports ahead of his team taking on Southampton tonight. Talking about the aftermath of reaching his third final in the last five seasons with Liverpool, Klopp says he messaged two unlikely heroes.
“I messaged Rhys Williams and Nat Phillips because we wouldn’t be there without them,” said Klopp.
Jurgen then recalled an image from last season. A photo of Williams and Phillips that has stuck with him during Liverpool’s European campaign this year.
“I remember the final game of last season and they left the pitch with a bandage around the head, cuts on their faces, and that was really a symbol for the whole period. We went through on one leg, with one eye… it was incredible. It was such a tough season,” shared the 54-year-old.
Liverpool ride the storm
A tough season it certainly was. But as the famous song goes, “at the end of the storm, there’ll be a golden sky.” Liverpool’s storm was losing all their senior centre-back’s to long-term injuries and enduring six home defeats in a row.
It looked like there was no way Liverpool could make it back into the Champions League with Fabinho and Jordan Henderson as rotating centre-backs.
That was until Klopp decided he had nothing to lose. Phillips and Williams were nowhere near the first-team squad at the start of the season. Both had been out on loan in 2019/20 and certainly in Phillips’ case had been anticipated to move on.
Thankfully, they stuck around. Racking up 39 appearances between them in all competitions, they played a big part in steadying Liverpool’s rocking ship and eventually finishing third.
Special thanks to Kabak
Special thanks must also go to Ozan Kabak. The Turk came in amid a terrifically hard situation. But still, he did a capable job adapting to a new country and a new club all in the middle of a global pandemic.
That he was injured for the final part of the season as Williams stepped in potentially cost him a longer-term future at Liverpool.
After all that, the golden sky has appeared once more for Liverpool. A season that looked like it might be played out to the back drop of Europa League or even no European football could end in Liverpool’s seventh win of the biggest trophy of all.
The excellent run at the end of last season has acted as a springboard for the success of this one.
Williams and Phillips may never play again for Liverpool. Their story may even be enhanced further if they never do. But for what they did during the season like no other in 2020/21, they’ll always be remembered fondly by supporters and clearly by their manager as well.
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