A five-a-side pitch in Anfield was probably not the venue that Jurgen Klopp would have imagined he'd be reflecting on Mohamed Salah’s time as a Liverpool player.
But that is exactly where the German found himself on Friday afternoon as he attended an LFC Foundation event ahead of his return to Anfield on Saturday.
Klopp departed Liverpool back in 2024 and Salah confirmed on Tuesday that he would be leaving the club at the end of the season.
The Egypt superstar, just like his former manager, will depart Anfield as a legend, having helped create history at the club over the past nine years.
Under Klopp, Salah helped the Reds win the Champions League, the Premier League, three domestic cups, the Super Cup and the Club World Cup.
And the 58-year-old, who will be back on the sidelines at Anfield on Saturday for the Liverpool Legends match against another of his old clubs, Borussia Dortmund, revealed he reached out to Salah after seeing the video confirming his exit online.
“I text with players,” Klopp said. “Less so in not so good times, let me say it that way! 'Keep your head up' or whatever doesn’t go down particularly well!
“It’s exactly like that. I heard that he was going to leave. Then I saw the video. I thought I will call him or text him or whatever. I didn’t know whether I would reach him.
“We have the same physio, by the way. I loan him my physio! Chris Rohrbeck is treating my hip. Anyway, I had to process a little bit to think what it means that Mo goes.
Jurgen Klopp meets walking footballers who play as part of the LFC Foundation's programme at Anfield Sports & Community Centre
“I am already in a different perspective because I watch from the outside. I have this distance if you want.
“So I text him what I thought in that moment. I can sum it up: I am really happy and proud that I was part of the whole journey.”
The seven years Klopp and Salah worked together at Liverpool weren't always plain sailing.
Back in April 2024, the two appeared to clash as Salah prepared to come off the bench against West Ham United.
And while Klopp admits that managing stars like the Egyptian and Sadio Mane brought its difficulties, he believes being in charge of special players always has its challenges.
Jurgen Klopp at Anfield Sports & Community Centre on Friday afternoon
"We both know that we had these arguments, not big, big arguments,” he said. “Like the one at West Ham, both (of) us, five seconds later, would have thought: 'No, we don’t do that in public, come on, rewind'.
“Next morning it was already over, but it happens in public. We never lost respect for each other, and that is what I really like.
“He didn’t like me for a second when I took him off after 87 minutes and all these kind of things, and you think, 'Why?' The time with him and Sadio together – they were a challenge, of course they were. Special players are a challenge. Tell me one who is not? The real difference makers. The one who wasn't, by the way, was Bobby Firmino.
“Now it’s time, not for Liverpudlians, obviously, because there is still a lot to go for, but for me it’s a bit different and I can already reflect. And what a time that was, and what a player he is. My God.
“The goals he scored and the games we had. Champions League away games in Porto, for example – what happened there? We kind of took it for granted, but this team was ridiculous. What was it, five or six (5-0 and 5-1)? I lost count.
“You go to Porto now and it’s not that they are better or worse, they were always good. But we went there and did exactly that. In their prime, this team was incredible, in each and every part.”
And when asked if he feels his Liverpool side made the extraordinary seem normal, Klopp is no doubt, saying: “As a group, yes. The players did. It was 6-0 at home to Watford and the goals we scored in that game were: ‘Oh my god!’
“They gave us it back before a Christmas party and we lost there 3-0. Completely useless. That’s the thing in these moments – time stops for a second.
“And that means you watch the movie again. My big target was always that when I am old and grey, I’m grey but maybe not that old, I can look back and smile, and that is definitely the case.
“The Mo movie is a beautiful movie, a beautiful movie, and to make it interesting, you have to have a few edges in. It’s a beautiful movie with a happy end.”
