“Giving up is definitely not in the Scouse dictionary,” Liverpool’s departing manager Jurgen Klopp has written in an emotional open letter to his adoptive city.
Ahead of his final match in charge of the Reds on Sunday, he described Liverpool as “the city of open arms” in a letter published in the Liverpool Echo.
The German relocated to Merseyside with his wife Ulla when he was appointed manager in 2015.
“Liverpool is a city that we lived in and worked in but it is also a place that we fell in love with,” he wrote. “We owe it so much.”
In his letter, he described the city as “a place that welcomes you like a son and does not care where you come from”.
Klopp added: “It just wants you to be part of it and I could not be prouder that you allowed me to have that incredible privilege.”
During his tenure as manager, the club won the Champions League in 2019 and the Premier League the following year.
He described himself as a “boy from the Black Forest” and was honored to receive the Freedom of Liverpool in 2022.
Klopp also built connections with the families of the 97 fans who died in the 1989 Hillsborough stadium disaster.
In his open letter, he wrote: “The biggest lesson I will take with me is that giving up is definitely not in the Scouse dictionary.
“If you are from here, the chances are that you are not just ready to fight, you actually want to fight.
“Not only that, the way you stand together, in all kinds of circumstances, means that even when the odds are against you, it is still possible to win.
“I love this more than I could ever say.”