Transformed Gravenberch embodies Slot's Liverpool

Jurgen Klopp had a habit of sounding prophetic. Or he had the capacity, whether through coaching and tactical prowess or force of personality, to make some of what he said come true.

- RICHARD JOLLY

But, on his way out, he made a prediction with a difference: one he could no longer influence.

“Liverpool 2.0 does not end with me,” he said in May. “It’s just the new Liverpool. It’s just the start. They can make the next steps.” Seven months later, it could have sounded like wishful thinking. Liverpool could have floundered after his exit, sliding down the standings. Or a successor might have broken his team up. The future planning Klopp did with the signings in his last three years may have seemed irrelevant if those players were then sold, dropped or performing poorly.

Instead, Arne Slot is realising Klopp’s words. Liverpool 2.0 will not get Klopp’s second Premier League title, but they may win the club’s second. They will not win the German’s second Champions League, but they may deliver the second with a team he built. “I knew Jurgen left the team in a very good place,” said Slot. He has proved it.

Liverpool 2.0 have given the numbers within it another meaning. They have beaten Real Madrid 2-0 and Manchester City 2-0. They have had 20 games and won 18. The eventual verdict may be that Klopp’s final season, the quadruple challenge that actually delivered a Carabao Cup and a thirdplace finish, proved the building block the German imagined: just not for him.