Liverpool lifted the FA Cup trophy again after 16 years by beating the Chelsea by a tight score of 6-5 that had to go to sudden death (they tied at zero in the 90 minutes). In this way, the current coach of the Reds, Jurgen Klopp, added the only star that was missing since he arrived at the club in 2015.
For Chelsea, this is the second lost final this season and the third specifically in the FA Cup in a row to end in defeat, after losing to Arsenal in 2020 and Leicester City in 2021.
The two teams reached this final after neither of them had managed to win the Premier League until now (1-1 and 2-2). The background of the final League Cup (Carabao Cup) also aimed for maximum equality, after reaching penalties after a goalless draw and this was the case in the last FA Cup match, which was defined by the penalty kick by Greek side Kostas Tsimikas.
Under Klopp, Liverpool have won six trophies in different competitions: one of Premier Leagueof Champions, of Club World Cupthe European Super Cup, the Carabao Cup and now the Emirates FA Cup.
This season could end with four titles in total for Klopp and his players if they manage to win the Champions League on May 28 against Real Madrid and if they manage to overcome the Premier against Manchester quoteand, that until the weekend they close with an advantage of four points with only two games to play.
Although he does not get all four titles during the same season, Klopp has already tied Alex Ferguson, coach of the Man Utd from 1986 to 2013, as the second manager in the entire history of British football to win, on at least one occasion, all four titles with the same club: Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and EFL Cup (called the Carabao Cup). for business reasons).
“When we entered the stadium and looked at all the faces, like when we got to the bus, we could see what it means to the people. Then, on the field, with the performance, they saw what it means for the players (…) This is again a trophy for the entire club, of course for the team, but for the entire club. We saw before the game what it means because our hotel is quite central, we saw everyone partying since this morning,” Klopp said after Thomas Tuchel’s victory over Chelsea.
Since Klopp took the reins of Liverpool in the 2016 season, the team not only boasts those six stars, but has become a protagonist in England and at European level, in addition to its effectiveness being 62.7%, being the first coach to exceed 60% in that category since the Scotsman Kenny Dalglish in his first season between 1985 and 1991 (60.9%).
As for the FA Cup, this was the eighth trophy of said tournament in the history of Liverpool, although the first since 2006; Regarding the League Cup, it also took a long time to regain the title, since the last time it had been in 2012, a decade ago.
The FA Cup trophy against Chelsea It also means, on a more personal level, for Jurgen Klopp to break the tie in titles won between his management in Liverpool and that of his previous team, Borussia Dortmund from his native country.
With Dortmund, Klopp won five titles between 2010 and 2014: two Bundesligas, two German Super Cups and one DFB Pokal (German Cup), while with the FA Cup he won six trophies from his technical direction with Liverpool, the most successful in terms of championship numbers in his coaching career.
Already a few months ago, with obtaining the Carabao Cup, Klopp had entered the select group of Liverpool coaches with five titles or more, which includes Bill Shankly (coach from 1959 to 1974), Bob Paisley (from 1974 to 1983 ), Kenny Dalglish (1985 to 1991) and the most recent, Gerard Houllier (from 1998 to 2004).
With the six stars, Klopp overtook Houillier, but he is still far from Dalglish’s record of nine wins, Shankly’s 10 and Paisley’s 20. However, the German still has the door open to fight for two more titles at the end of the 2021-22 season if he wins the Champions League and the Premier League.