Liverpool have enjoyed - and at times endured - a pretty wild 2016: they've scored 86 goals, been to two cup finals and lost them both, thrown away leads (Bournemouth away), improbably come from behind to win in the last minute (Dortmund at home) and, occasionally, have done both in the same game (5-4 away to Norwich).
That ridiculous game against Norwich set the tone for a madcap year at Liverpool: they took the lead through Bobby Firmino, then fell 3-1 down only to go 4-3 up before conceding an equaliser in injury time. This was all a preamble to Adam Lallana's 97th-minute volleyed winner, which set Jurgen Klopp running behind the touchline, returning to his dugout with a pair of broken glasses.
Klopp has done a long interview with the Liverpool Echo looking back at 2016, which the paper are serializing in three parts.
In the first part, Klopp looks back at the first four months of the year, and had a fantastic response when asked about the glasses he broke at Carrow Road:
They were absolutely broken! In the picture I have them in my hands.
It was Christian Benteke who did it. So don't kill my glasses or otherwise you will be sold!
Elsewhere in the same interview, Klopp looks back at that extraordinary 4-3 Anfield win over Borussia Dortmund, revealing that he is still in contact with his old club, while heaping considerable praise on the Anfield atmosphere:
I spoke this morning with Hans-Joachim Watzke (CEO of Borussia Dortmund) on the phone. It was a Christmas call, wishing each other all the best, happy new year, all that stuff.
He said: “I'll have to take a plane to Liverpool, watch a game and sample that atmosphere again. But I really needed a few months to get over what happened at Anfield at April. It was the hardest night we've had for a long time.”
For us, it was historically good. The whole tie was special.
I'm a really lucky guy. I had wonderful atmospheres at Mainz and at Dortmund but the last half an hour at Anfield that night was the best I have ever had.
When you watch it back, Liverpool as a club was not to stop in this moment. We will never forget that night for sure.
You can read the full interview on the Echo's website here.
