When Arne Slot was announced as Liverpool’s new head coach to succeed Jurgen Klopp, Reds supporters could not have imagined his inaugural season in charge at Anfield would end in a Premier League title.
At the beginning of 2024, Klopp stunned the soccer world by announcing he would be stepping down as Liverpool boss. Under the german, the Reds won everything there was to win in the club game, conquering Europe when they lifted the Champions League in 2019 after beating Tottenham Hotspur, before claiming Premier League glory the following season in 2020.
The 2020 title was the culmination of five years of hard work for Liverpool, who battled Pep Guardiola and Manchester City the season prior down the stretch in arguably the closest fought Premier League ever.
It also was not the first title battle Liverpool had with Man City and Guardiola. The 2021/22 season also came down to the final day, while in Klopp’s last season in charge, the Reds battled City and Arsenal until they fell away towards the end of the campaign.
While there has been plenty of chatter about whether or not Liverpool are ‘good champions’, given the weaknesses of their opponents this term, there can be no doubt Slot deserves adulation for his achievement this term.
And in helping Liverpool to another Premier League, their 20th top flight title, Slot has made Guardiola rue his comments he made about ‘sleeping better’ following Klopp’s departure.
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“Honestly, if I would have been a football player, I would love to be his player,” Guardiola said of Klopp in Liverpool’s documentary ‘Liverpool FC: Dreamers to Believers’, filmed during the German’s final season.
“Since many, many years of facing on the touchline, maybe you have certain moments like [growls], but in general, it was right. It was good.”
He also said following their final match against each other in charge of Liverpool and City: “I will sleep better [when Klopp goes]. The games we play before against Liverpool were almost a nightmare. Of course he will be missed.
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“It was a shock [to hear the news]. I felt when I heard it that a part of Man City… we will lose something. We cannot define our period here without him … without Liverpool. Impossible.
“They have been our biggest rivals. And personally he [Klopp] has been the best rival I ever had in my life – in Dortmund when I was in Bayern, then here. I think the Premier League are going to miss him – the charisma, the personality and especially the way his teams play.”
