Dubai: The legendary Jamie Carragher has backed his former club to register a rare double in football with German coach Jurgen Klopp at the helm at Liverpool.
In an interview with CNN’s Richard Quest, Carragher outlined significant points that he believes Liverpool can win both the English Premier League and the Uefa Champions League in one season under Klopp’s guidance.
Speaking during the filming of CNN’s Quest’s World of Wonder programme, Carragher advised that the next step for the current Liverpool side would be to win the Premier League and Champions League in the same season, thus replicating Manchester United’s historic 1999 feat.
“There are three or four teams — the best teams in Europe and Liverpool are one of them — and sometimes you need to flip a coin and whether it falls your way or not, but Liverpool can certainly win the Premier League and no doubt the Champions League in the same season,” Carragher said.
“It takes a special team. It doesn’t happen very often, but Liverpool were very close. When they won the Champions League, they only lost the league by a point. That was a couple of years ago, so that team has proven it can do it before and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’ll do it again.”
Carragher, who turned 42 earlier this year, featured as a defender at Liverpool over a career spanning 17 years. A one-club man, Carragher was Liverpool’s vice-captain for a decade, and is the club’s second-longest ever serving player, making his 735th appearance for Liverpool in all competitions on Mary 19, 2013. Carragher also holds the record for the most appearances in European competition for Liverpool with 149 caps.
Carragher is a firm believer that Klopp has brought in something different at his former club. “It’s not just for Liverpool, he’s been loved at the other clubs he has been at before. That’s why Liverpool brought him here and he’s just got a connection now with the city and the people of it, where he almost feels like a German scouser, shall we say?” Carragher said.
“That’s his moniker right now in the city. He’s thought of like that and I think it will be a sad day when he leaves.
But the former Liverpool defender believes Klopp’s reign will sit in the history of the club. “He’s got a special personality. If you go back to Liverpool managers, you go back to Bill Shankly. He was a great football manager — there’s other great football managers — but he had something special in his personality that the people of Liverpool just grabbed hold of.
“I think when we look back at his time he’s going to be on that pedestal with those other managers and it’s not just his ability to understand the game.”
Carragher was so confident of the current side that he didn’t mind being part of the team right now. “Listen, I wish I was playing [and] I was involved in this team, no doubt. I think when you stand back as a supporter, you just think of the team, the club and with it being so successful, doing so well at this moment, it’s just been a brilliant ride for everyone to enjoy in,” he said.
