It was Great to see Kloppo again in the Dortmund dugout

Jürgen Norbert Klopp is a name that is well-known to all Borussia Dortmund supporters. The last manager to help the club win the Bundesliga, ‘Kloppo’, as he became affectionately known, left Germany to help Liverpool win the Champions League and Premier League, amongst other things.

Considered to be one of the best managers in the world, he left Merseyside at the end of the 2023-2024 season as he was ‘tired’. It felt like he would never return to Signal Iduna Park, but the German returned as the manager of Jakub Blaszczykowski’s team in a recent friendly between his side and one representing Lukasz Piszczek.

A Smile That Can Light Up the Westfalenstadion

There are a huge number of things about Jürgen Klopp that make him an incredibly special manager. When he’s at a club, he gives that club his whole heart and throws himself into working for its interests with everything he does. It says so much about him that he has only managed three clubs, but he achieved the seemingly impossible with all three of them.

With Mainz he managed to get them promoted into the Bundesliga, whilst with Der Borussen he won back-to-back Bundesliga titles and took the club to the Champions League final. He won Liverpool’s first title of the Premier League era, etching his name in history.

https://twitter.com/Football__Tweet/status/1832641725136802179

His loyalty and desire are qualities every top-level manager should boast, but the thing that stands out about him almost above all else is his smile. Although everyone at the club is excited to see what Nuri Şahin can do in the Head Coach role, there is no doubt that seeing Kloppo back in the dugout at Signal Iduna Park is something that everyone in black and yellow could get behind.

Sure, he wasn’t managing the club proper, but even having him involved in a friendly game was a joy for all fans of the club to witness. He allowed fans to dream when he was in charge, now they’ve got to live out a fantasy by seeing him back in the dugout.

Love From the Yellow Wall

It is easy to forget that the entire reason why Klopp was back at the Westfalenstadion was in order to take charge of Jakub Blaszczykowski’s team for a friendly game against a side representing Lukasz Piszczeck. That is why he was there, though, and it was a game that offered a feast of football for those in attendance. Team Kuba were wearing the Dortmund home shirts and kicking towards the North Stand during the first half, whilst Team Piszcu were attacking the South Stand.

The match ended in a 5-4 win for the side representing Blaszczykowski, which makes complete sense when you remember Klopp was managing them.

https://www.tiktok.com/@clipsoffooty/video/7412235186735189281

The other side was managed by Peter Krawietz, Klopp’s long-term assistant, with the testimonial being filled with faces old and new. With more than 81,000 people in attendance, it wasn’t just the two players the testimonial was played in honour of that were shown love by the Yellow Wall at the end of the game.

Kloppo got arguably the biggest cheer of the day when he did his famous fist-pumps for the crowd, reminding everyone of just how much fun it was when he was in the dugout on a regular basis. The excitement of the match also saw hundreds of small children take on the famous pair of players.

A Reminder of the Good Times

The truth of the matter is that it has been a painful few seasons for Borussia Dortmund in the absence of Jürgen Klopp as manager. DFB-Pokal and DFL-Supercup wins have been small moments of joy in a period that has otherwise been devoid of success. Not only that, but Der Borussen have missed out on the Champions League and Bundesliga titles in decidedly painful fashion.

When the 2022-2023 season reached its final day, all Der BVB needed to do in order to win the title was win at home against, ironically enough, Klopp’s other former club in Mainz 05. Instead, they drew 2-2 and Bayern Munich won the title. Again.

To then miss out on the Champions League title the season after thanks to relatively late goals from Dani Carvajal and Vinicius Junior was even more painful. Little wonder, therefore, that so many people crowded into the Westfalenstadion in order to see Jürgen Klopp remind everyone of the good times.

The beaming smile, infectious laugh and good-spirited joking around were all hallmarks of Kloppo’s time in Germany, mixed in with a thrilling football match that his team ended up winning. Everyone hopes Şahin can be equally as successful, but it was lovely to have one last time with the former boss.