Jürgen Klopp actually didn’t want his impending retirement to overshadow the rest of his Liverpool FC season. The focus should not be on his personal story, but on the club’s sporting goals, as the coach expressly emphasized in the emotionally staged announcement in January.
However, he had lost the fight before it began. The approaching end of his era has been the dominant narrative ever since, this weekend more than ever. Because on Sunday afternoon (4.25 p.m. on Sky) Liverpool will host Manchester City at Anfield: the Premier League leaders against the second-placed team; Klopp against his great rival Pep Guardiola. It is the next act in an epic showdown that has shaped English football over the past eight years – and the last for the time being.