Given the criticism that has come from accepting a new role as Red Bull’s global head of football over the last two weeks, Jurgen Klopp would have been forgiven for grimacing at the Champions League fixture list for match-day three.
Barely a fortnight after Klopp was confirmed as returning to football from January onwards, the legendary former Liverpool manager knows there will be plenty of chatter about his new venture when the team he won the European Cup with five years ago visit the crown jewel of his new employers’ five-club stable on Wednesday night.
Klopp faced criticism from supporters of his former club Mainz on Saturday as they hosted Leipzig for a game they eventually lost 2-0. “Have you forgotten everything we made you become? Are you crazy?” read one banner from the home end, while another message, further down the stand, referred to what is said to be a former quote from Klopp himself. It read: “I like people up to the point where they disappoint me.”
Back in his homeland, the decision to pitch up at the Red Bull organisation – a company viewed with suspicion and mistrust across much of German football due to a perceived lack of authenticity – has come at a cost to Klopp’s carefully curated public image.
Leipzig are viewed, by some, as the pariahs of the Bundesliga and even the decision to officially name the club ‘Rasen Ballsport’ Leipzig, which means a ball sport played on grass, was to avoid officially referring to them officially as ‘Red Bull’ Leipzig. It was a ploy that fell flat.
The ‘RB’ is not ambiguous and its detractors know full well what it really stands for. Their rise to prominence despite the ’50+1 rule’ that exists in German football is what rankles most with the traditionalists. Boycotts and protests were frequent during Leipzig’s rise through the divisions to their status as Champions League regulars and Klopp has suddenly found himself in the eye of that storm.
“As fake as his teeth,” one piece, somewhat harshly, argued in German media about the 2020 Premier League winner last week, while some Borussia Dortmund circles were equally scathing of the man who led them to two Bundesliga titles before moving to Merseyside nine years ago this month.
For many, the halo has slipped for Klopp but the most emotion elicited from those who will always worship him on Merseyside was a notion of slight surprise that he is returning to football so soon after leaving Anfield.
For all the negativity that permeates the discussion of Leipzig’s off-the-field existence, though, they have developed a reputation on the pitch as one of Europe’s best finishing schools for players ready to take the next step towards real stardom in European football.
Karim Adeyemi and Marcel Sabitzer were Champions League finalists with Dortmund last season, while players like Timo Werner (Tottenham), Christopher Nkunku (Chelsea) and Josko Gvardiol (Manchester City) have all made the grade at big Premier League clubs.
Background checks on Sadio Mane were also sought from contacts within the Red Bull stable when the Reds were looking into signing him from Southampton in 2016 and given the strength of the ties and RBL’s model of sharpening the stars of the future while they are at the Red Bull Arena, it will be no surprise to see the lanes of communication remaining open between the two clubs for the foreseeable.
