On the evening of the 15th, Borussia Dortmund of the Bundesliga held an official press conference to officially announce the early termination of Klopp' contract with the club, which has been coaching the team for seven years. This summer, Klopp will leave Dotmont, where he has been coaching for seven years, to start a new chapter in his life. And Dortmund, which has experienced storms this season, will also usher in a new navigator.
In seven years, a person's cells complete an overall metabolism. Marilyn Monroe starred in a film called The Seven Year Itch, which derived a Western proverb and was widely used in Chinese. The seven-year itch shows that many things will develop into the seventh year and there will be some problems without human will. And the relationship between Klopp and Dortmund has not escaped this "seven-year itch" after all.
But looking back on Klopp's seven years in Dortmund, it is a lament: this is a glorious period of exhaustion, and it will surely become an immortal chapter in Dortmund's history.
Now, let's reminisce about Klopp's seven years in Dortmund.
Origin: Mainz, young and crazy
Jurgen Klopp was born in 1967 and did not have much glory in his player years. Like most professional players in the world, Klopp completed his playing career in small and medium-sized teams. If there's anything special about Klopp's player days, it's just a matter of his position on the pitch, switching from forward to midfield and finally becoming a centre-back. Perhaps it was this uniqueness that laid the foundation for Klopp's tactical philosophy of pressing the whole field and attacking and defending in his future coaching.
In 2001, Klopp retired from The Bundesliga side Mainz and immediately took up the coaching whip of Mainz. For decades, Mainz has been playing in Germany's lower leagues as a small and medium-sized team. But in Klopp's first season in charge, he led his former teammates to a near promotion by just one point. In 2004, under Klopp's leadership, Mainz finally got his wish to advance to the Bundesliga. For a time, Klopp became a hero to the locals.
Mainz, who was promoted to the Bundesliga, was listed as the top favourite for relegation that season, but Klopp's side shocked fans. The team was disciplined, aggressive, fierce, and counter-attacking, finishing 11th in the season and qualifying for the League Cup through the Fair Play List. The young young coach Klopp, although wearing glasses, is like the team's 12th player on the field (most of the players on the field are his teammates before he retired).
The 37-year-old coach and the players on the field shouted together, celebrated together, went crazy together, and completely peaked the image of the German football coach's rigor and simplicity. Klopp became a scene in the Bundesliga. However, as a small and medium-sized team with limited strength, Mainz was eventually relegated to the Bundesliga in 2007, and Klopp stepped down from the main team in 2008 after leading the team to fail to rush the first division.
Hand in Hand Dort: The god of destiny, facilitating marriage
Just as Klopp left Mainz, Borussia Dortmund, the traditional strength of the Bundesliga, was undervalued. In 2001, Dortmund spent a lot of money to buy Rosicky, Kohler and Amoruso. Although dort won the Bundesliga title the following year, the team was on the verge of bankruptcy by 2005 due to £125 million in debt due to profligacy.
The club had to be purged, with stars such as Rosicky, Flynns and Everton leaving. Although the team has invited van Malvic, Dole and other famous coaches, the head coach's wishes cannot be realized due to the poor operating conditions of the club, and Van Der Vaart, who has always been the main player of Van Malwijk, has also been lost due to a shortage of funds. Borussia Dortmund lingered in the Bundesliga table until the 07-08 season when the team fell to 13th place in the Bundesliga and nearly relegated.
At the beginning of the 2007-08 season, the Bundesliga introduced the strictest financial "license review" policy, dealing seriously with teams with poor economic conditions. Dortmund began to reflect on himself, and the new operations team was stationed, which also brought new ideas to save money and increase business activities. After the lessons of failure, the board felt that the famous coach could not save Dortmund, and they needed a young man who could constantly inspire the team and the fans and restore the club's former prestige, and Klopp, who was idle at home, came into Dortmund's sights.
For Klopp, it is rare to be able to return to the Bundesliga to coach again. Klopp signed Borussia Dortmund on a two-year contract. In fact, there is another reason that has to be said for this marriage, the reason why Dort chose Klopp is not unrelated to Klopp's lower salary.
In addition, as an aside, the Bundesliga team manager that year, in fact, Hamburg preemptively took the place of Klopp to replace the then coach Stevens, and Klopp also accepted Hamburg's invitation. However, Hamburg was later abandoned because of Klopp's untrimmed image. In recent years, Hamburg has been relegated to change coaches year after year, and I am afraid that I will regret my wrong decision that year. Hence the saying: Man must not be disfigured!
Dort's early stage: pay close attention to youth training and dig up new talents
Klopp, who has just arrived at Dortmund, knows in his heart that Dortmund is no longer the big team in the G14 of the year, and if he wants to make a difference in Dortmund, the first criterion is to use an operating system that does not let the club fall into the debt quagmire. Because of this, Klopp set his sights on youth training and began to reuse the team's youth players. In 2008, Klopp recalled Shaheen on loan and determined his position as the core of the team, and promoted players such as Schmeltze and Schnemmer of the second team. In 2009, Klopp promoted Götze to a team and arranged for him to make his Bundesliga debut when he was 17 years and 5 months old.
At the same time, in the transfer market, Klopp also set his sights on young players who have already emerged but do not need to spend a lot of money. In 2008, he advocated the import of Subotic (3.5 million), who was 20 years old at the time, Hummels, who was 20 years old from Bayern (after the 4.5 million buyout), Santana ( 2.1 million) who was 22 years old, from Figelense; in 2009, he signed 21-year-old Groskroytz for free from Allen, and 20-year-old Swend from Munich in 1860; 10 years, he brought in 1860 1860 1860 1860 1860 1860 1860 1860 1860 1860 1800000000000000000000000000000000000000
In addition to this, Klopp began to focus on some of the best in the lower national leagues. In 2009, Dort spent 4.2 million to bring in Barrios from Chilean league teams; in 10 years, Dortmundowski imported 4.5 million from Polish league teams and 500,000 from Australian league teams to bring in Randrac. Most impressively, Dort bought Shinji Kagawa from a Japanese league team for just 350,000 euros. Shinji Kagawa landed in the first season of the Bundesliga and won the title of "Best Player in the Bundesliga HalfWay".
In this way, Klopp, with his unique vision, gathered and cultivated a group of wolf-like and ambitious young people to follow him in the Bundesliga battlefield. Klopp's passionate coaching style and language talent for encouragement and guidance also completely conquered these young people. Lars, chief reporter for Le Monde, said: "It's not hard to understand why Klopp is so popular, he never pretends, he's always been so real, and if you watch him coach or talk to others, you'll find that he's always being himself, no disguise, no mask." With the gradual maturity of young people, Dort's results have continued to improve, laying the foundation for the success point in the later stage.
Dortmund mid-term: Pressure Bayern, crowned twice
It's Klopp's third season in charge of Borussia Dortmund. Klopp's Young Guards had grown up. The squad stabilized, with the 23-year-old Hummels becoming the absolute leader of the defence, a perfect match for Subotic; two defenders Shaheen and Bend had a clear division of attacks and one defense, and Barrios, Götze and Groskroytz in the front. And Dort's tactical play is like Klopp himself, full of passion and fighting spirit. On the court, the players tirelessly run and scramble, quickly attack on the spot after stealing, and always grasp the initiative on the court, which makes people look excited and excited. And whenever Dort scored, Klopp's combination of punches celebrated in a way that was like the Bundesliga label was deeply rooted in people's hearts.
In the 2010-2011 season, despite the defeat at home in the first round, Borussia Dortmund won all eight consecutive away games from the second round of 3-1 victory over Stuttgart, setting a new away opening streak record in the Bundesliga for 47 years. In the first half of the season, Borussia Dortmund were unstoppable, winning 13, drawing 1 and losing 1 in their first 15 matches, becoming the first team in Bundesliga history to win 13 of their first 15 matches. In the second half of the season, they beat Bayern away from home and established a greater lead. In the end, Klopp led Dortmund to another championship trophy after eight years.
In the 2011-2012 season, although Shaheen moved to Real Madrid at the beginning of the season, Gundogan, who was imported from Nuremberg for 4 million yuan, was quickly qualified for the position left by Shaheen. The bundesliga title battle this season is even more intense, showing a two-strong competition. Heynckes took over from Bayern Munich with a new look, once dominating the first half of the league and winning the halfway title.
However, Borussia Dortmund concentrated all their abilities on the Bundesliga after the European race, creating a record of 28 rounds unbeaten, especially in a direct confrontation with Bayern, and finally successfully defended the title. This is Borussia Dortmund's second consecutive Bundesliga title after the 94-95 and 95-96 seasons, while Bayern have missed the Bundesliga title for the first time since 1997. It is worth mentioning that in the final of the German Cup that season, Dortmund beat Bayern 5:2 and achieved the "double champion" of the German arena.
Dortmund Summit: Top of Europe, one step away
Klopp's Champions League journey didn't get off to a good start. In the Champions League in seasons 11 and 12, Borussia Dortmund, with the halo of Bundesliga champions, is undoubtedly a big disappointment. Borussia Dortmund's group stage opponents are Arsenal, Marseille and Olympiacos respectively, while Dortmund clearly has the ability to qualify. However, after the start of the European war, Klopp and his lads could not adapt to the rhythm of the Champions League, losing to Marseille and Olympiacos in succession, and the final battle against Marseille, with a two-goal lead, was scored three goals in a row by the opponent, thus giving up the third in the group to Olympiacos, ending the European war with the bottom of the group, so that Dortmund's success in defending the Bundesliga was much dimmed.
But Klopp is by no means a man of few words, and shame only turns into motivation for him. In the Champions League season 12-13, Dortmund was divided into the group of death, facing the same group of Real Madrid, Manchester City and Ajax, Dort was unbeaten in the group without being favored! Advancing to the knockout rounds, Dort's two wins over miners advanced to the quarterfinals. Subsequently, relying on two goals in stoppage time to reverse Malaga to advance to the top 4.
We remember not only the slaying, but also the giant of Westphalia and his telescope! Dortmund, who reached the semi-finals, once again gave the world a shock, they beat Real Madrid 4-1 at home, and Levan staged a senior year. The final result of that Champions League need not be discussed, and Dort, who lacked Götze, was killed by Robben. However, the scene of the two sides not conservating each other in the final impressed the fans and was hailed as one of the most exciting finals in recent years. After the Champions League final, Klopp and his Dortmund are no longer obscure, they have taken to the highest stage, which has attracted the attention of all of Europe.
Dortmund continued to perform significantly in seasons 13 to 14. The group stage beat Arsenal, Napoli and Marseille to the top spot. After eliminating Zenit to reach the quarterfinals, Dort met Real Madrid again. The 0-3 away score almost condemned Dortmund's death penalty, but back in Westphalia, Klopp's side did not give up, and if it were not for Mkhitaryan's waste of three must-score goals, many Temont would have reversed. In the end, Dot left the Champions League with his head held high.
The End of Dot: The scenery is no longer beautiful, and it is deplorable
Since the beginning of the 12-year season, Bayern have gradually reached the top under the command of Heynckes and Guardiola, and in the face of such opponents, Dort still sits in the second place in the Bundesliga. Just when people are expecting the duo of Dort and Bayern to continue to evolve, at the beginning of this season, Dort's performance has taken a sharp turn for the worse. Although Dortmund beat Bayern 2-0 at the start of the season to win the German Super Cup, it clearly blinded Klopp and his team.
At the beginning of the season, Dort began to enter a strange circle of invincibility, even if he won the game, he still relied on the gifts of his opponents (Kramer's magical oolong). Soon, Dort fell into the relegation zone and was dubbed the "Love Not Bundesliga". After the winter break, Dort, although he escaped the relegation zone with a wave of four consecutive wins, was defeated and eliminated by Juve 3-0 at home in the proud European arena. At present, Dort has been determined not to qualify for next season's Champions League. One can't help but ask: What happened to Klopp's team?
In my opinion, there are the following reasons:
One is the team's serious injury crisis. Klopp's tactical play advocates the player's active running and fierce scrambling, and the loss of the player's body is very obvious. After several years of accumulation, coupled with the intense schedule of the World Cup year, the body of Dortmund players has reached a critical point, and injuries have naturally increased. This season, the core players of the team have suffered injury suspensions, which directly affected the performance of the team.
The second is the impact of the departure of core players. Like the Leeds United Youth Guard, the young talents in Dort's famous team naturally became the focus of the transfer market. In the past four years, four core players, Shaheen, Kagawa, Getze and Levan, have left the team. Although Shaheen and Kagawa returned to the team later, their form was much worse than before. Obviously, the impact of the departure of core players on the cohesion and combat effectiveness of the team is huge.
Third, there are many problems in the operation of the team. It is easy to fight and defend the country. With the team's improved record, strong support from sponsors, and the huge transfer fees left by Götze and others, Dortmund's financial situation has improved significantly, but the team's operation has not turned a good economic situation into a stronger team strength. While there have been successes in signing Reus and renewing his contract, it's more of a stupid decision: Mkhitaryan for 27.5 million, Immobile for 19.5 million, Campole for 12 million, Günther for 10 million, Ramos for 9.7 million, Siebel for 5.5 million... The team spent nearly 100 million yuan in transfer fees, but there was no Bole work of the year.
The fourth is the magic of Klopp no more. That's what I think is the main reason. On the one hand, Klopp's players are no longer the young men who were not deeply involved in the world, but have grown into well-known stars. As time went on, their confidence in Klopp's tactics was much less than before, and the language talent of Klopp's best motivating players was hard to impress. Before the recent dortmund vs. Borussia Moncheng, Klopp took out an alarm clock and sounded it in the locker room, saying that Dort's players should wake up. But Dort's players still went on the court as if they hadn't woken up. On the other hand, Klopp's tactical play has gradually been eaten up by other teams. Bundesliga teams no longer attacked Dort, but compressed the defense to play Dort's counterattack, and this way of treating himself the way he did, Klopp's team was at a loss.
About the future: full of thorns, wait and see
Regarding his next move, Klopp has made it clear that he will not choose to rest. Under the words, he will continue to coach next season. Obviously, Manchester City, which is now mired in the quagmire, is the most likely place for Klopp to go, but other possibilities cannot be ruled out. But at least one thing is certain, Klopp's next stop will be a big club, because he no longer needs to prove himself with a team in the construction period. So, what does the future hold? Can Klopp hold off the big stars in the giants? Can Klopp's playing philosophy succeed in the giants? Can Klopp, who wields a lot of checks, still play the role of a good Bole?
We may wish to wait and see.
Fate does not understand / Rhine wishes / but the most blind / still counts as the Son of God. / Humans know their dwelling places, / Birds and beasts know where to build nests, / and they don't know where to go
—German poet Hölderlin
(Heart like a clear sky)