Jurgen Klopp breaks silence with message to Liverpool fans after Arne Slot's touching tribute to former manager
Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has had his say on his old team's Premier League title win.
Liverpool became champions of England for the first time since 1989-90 under the management of Klopp, claiming a famous 19th title in 2019-20 to put a triumphant cap on the club's progress with the German in charge.
The Reds confirmed title number 20 on Sunday, comfortably beating Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield to put themselves out of the reach of Arsenal.
New head coach Arne Slot wasn't short of generosity when giving Klopp credit for leaving him with a team of players ready to capitalise on the shortcomings of defending champions Manchester City.
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Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp asked Slot how he made it look "so easy" replacing Klopp.
"That's... not only my job, that's the job of the players who are standing here and the staff members standing over there, and the work Jurgen and Pepijn [Linders, Klopp's assistant manager] left behind over here," said Slot.
"The culture of the team, the quality of the team, was outstanding. We all knew that.
"We started off really well and, yeah, it maybe helped a bit that [Manchester] City had a difficult spell which they haven't had in five years, so maybe that helped us a bit as well."
Klopp repaid the compliment on Monday with a heartfelt love letter to newly crowned champions Liverpool on social media.
"Super grateful for the past, super, super happy about the present, extremely positive about the future!" enthused the former Reds boss on Instagram.
"Congratulations – YNWA."
Klopp spent nine seasons in charge at Anfield before stepping down at the end of last season.
He subsequently took up a senior strategy role with the Red Bull multi-club ownership group but was not forgotten during Sunday's celebrations on Merseyside.
Slot and his predecessor managed a seamless handover. Last May, Klopp moved to get the Kop behind the incoming Dutchman by teaching them a chant.
On Sunday, Slot sang it back to the only other Liverpool manager to win the title in the Premier League era.
Between them, they put Liverpool back on the perch they've been eyeing up for more than a decade.
Topics: Liverpool, Champions League, Premier League, Arne Slot, Jurgen Klopp
Chris Nee