What Liverpool and Chelsea fans did differently at an unbelievable moment confirms Jurgen Klopp’s greatest success

Liverpoolecho.co reports that Liverpool’s performance against Chelsea at Wembley Stadium on Sunday was magnificent. Make no mistake: this win was among the greatest, if not the best, of Klopp’s reign. The subplots were evident, but here’s a reminder of the big picture for the record, and because it’s always worth recalling how Liverpool beat the odds.

Eleven injuries, including no Mohamed Salah or Darwin Nunez, whose chances of appearing were dashed in the buildup to the game. Another issue arose when Ryan Gravenberch was stood on by the clumsy Moises Caicedo inside half an hour, leaving the Dutchman on crutches after the game. Poor officiating, VAR interventions, and a bench full of inexperienced players.

All against a bloated, billion-pound machine that, prior to the game, threatened to cough and sputter into life for the first time all season. But Liverpool overcame. Klopp’s men are playing like lions, humiliating the Londoners with their unwavering will to win.

It was nothing short of fantastic, but that’s not unexpected. For Chelsea 2024, Everton 2020 and Curtis Jones will make an impressive debut. What about 2019 and a certain corner that was rapidly taken? You can even go back several nights to Luton Town at Anfield to see what belief can do.

Klopp makes the unthinkable seem conceivable, and the unbelievable almost certain. So Liverpool won their tenth League Cup with a win against Chelsea, and Klopp is leaving the same way he came in: by injecting belief and optimism in a football team that, although momentarily, lost its way last season.

It was precisely what he did when he arrived into a team that had just finished a season with a 6-1 loss to Stoke City and was a shell of its former self. But Klopp had Liverpool supporters eating out of his hand with one fast soundbite when he met down with club media personnel in 2016, encouraging them to change from “doubters to believers”.

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And nine years later, that belief pervades the whole organization, from the first team to the academy, to the fans in the seats. Nothing summed this up more than a moment deep in the second half when the Liverpool end responded to wave after wave of Chelsea raids with a loud version of Allez Allez Allez, scarfs twirling in defiance while opposing supporters limply waved their plastic flags.

Liverpool’s players replied by battling until the final whistle, then overwhelming Chelsea again in extra time. Klopp may be running low on energy, but his players seldom are. Witness Alexis MacAllister racing till he appeared to collapse, or Wataru Endo, slumped and exhausted, waging a £200 million war and winning. What about Luis Diaz, who relentlessly pestered Chelsea’s defenders throughout 120 minutes?

Then there were teenagers Harvey Elliott and Conor Bradley, who handled changes in circumstances and tactics with the maturity of players far more seasoned than them. Not to mention a slew of Academy standouts who emerged to compete with players whose salaries are out of control.

Indeed, Liverpool will be hoping that sponsors Carabao send out crates of their energy drink with the trophy. Fill up the trophy and drink deeply; they’ve earned it. Liverpool’s youthful players are only getting started in football, but this is a special day for them. Klopp’s management may be a brief period of their careers, but they will do well to remember the lessons he has taught them about belief. It will take them a long way.

Indeed, on the same day in 2016, Klopp implored supporters to alter their thinking with that soundbite, he subsequently held his first news conference and promised championships within four years. He maintained his pledge, but over the course of nine years on Merseyside, he has reminded Liverpool fans of something more essential. And it might be his most significant achievement and legacy.