‘I’ve got nothing but great memories’ – Klopp still treasures 2011 Dortmund title win

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has shared his fond memories of taking Borussia Dortmund to the Bundesliga title in 2010-11, labelling it one of the best moments of his career.

April 30, 2011 saw BVB line up against Nurnberg with the chance to end a nine-year title drought in the German top flight. 

Klopp’s charges obliged with a 2-0 victory, with Lucas Barrios and Robert Lewandowski hitting in the first half, while Bayer Leverkusen‘s defeat at the hands of Cologne sent the crown to Signal Iduna Park with two games to spare. 

It was the coach’s first-ever major trophy, and despite going on to win the Champions League with Liverpool he still rates it as one of his finest achievements. 

“It’s right up there. I haven’t been waking up every morning and thinking about April 30, 2011, but after you called I tried to do that for a few days to remind myself of it,” he said in an interview shared on Dortmund’s Twitter account.

“Quite a lot has happened in my life, but it’s not the case that I’ve won so much that I get it all mixed up. But 2011 and 12 aren’t so easy because the team didn’t change that much and when I was thinking about the games we played I was trying to remember: was that 2010-11 or 11-12? 

“But I’ve got nothing but great memories and it probably had a huge impact on my career as a coach. We really made the most of what we had. Winning promotion with Mainz was unexpected for all of us and I didn’t know what would happen next, that was such a big thing.

“But to take these Under-19s to the German title – I felt like they were U-19s – was amazing. It changed our lives and thinking about it now, I’m still in touch with practically all of them.”

Jürgen Klopp looks back on his time in Dortmund and reflects on the emotions of the 2010/11 season 🎙 pic.twitter.com/v613gGmPQc

— Borussia Dortmund (@BlackYellow) April 30, 2020

The news that Cologne had taken the lead sent Signal Iduna Park into raptures as Dortmund sat on the verge of glory, but footage of Klopp shows that he did not drop his trademark hyperactive intensity on the sidelines even then, although he admits he felt deep down the job was complete.

“Well I am a coach. I wasn’t able to open the beers when it was 2-0!” he laughed. “It wasn’t over, even though my inner feeling was ‘this is it’, the game was still going. That often happens as a coach, and it’s your job. You have to give orders, shout, think about tactics and so on.

“Even at times like that you have to rant and rave at the players. We wanted to win the game – it wasn’t about getting across the line how ever we could, it was about crossing it in the best way possible. That will be why I was still in match mode. But inside I knew it was all over.”