An emotional Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said the return of the club’s fans to Anfield after a nine-month absence gave him goosebumps as they witnessed a 4-0 thumping of Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the club’s faithful had not been able to see their team play in their famous old stadium since March 11, when Liverpool were dumped out of the Champions League by Atletico Madrid, but on Sunday 2000 Reds fans roared them on to victory.
– Ratings: Wijnaldum, Salah, Kelleher earn 7/10 in win
– Insider Notebook: Man United give Solskjaer backing
“Wasn’t it the perfect night? Imagine 10 months ago people would have told us we would have a game and 2,000 people would turn up,” he told broadcasters Amazon Prime.
“When we came out, we all had goosebumps. I had no idea how it would feel. It was perfect. The noise, what the people did, they were on their toes, you could see and feel and smell. They had waited so long for it,” he said.
The 53-year-old enjoys a great relationship with the club’s fans, and despite the team’s success on the field during the pandemic, he has clearly missed playing in front of them.
“The game, the atmosphere, it was so nice. I had goosebumps. They started ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ — really nice. I never knew it could feel that good,” Klopp said, his voice welling up with emotion.
“This [the pandemic] started in February, and we were waiting to get normality back. Normality is good — I don’t think we appreciated it as much. It was very very touching,” he added.
The victory was Liverpool’s 31st in their last 32 home league games, and Klopp hopes that the fans are back to stay.
“It is so much more enjoyable with people involved,” he said.