Standing in front of a wooden board of honour listing the German record champions’ title-winning years, Klopp jokingly stopped at the gaps for 2011 and 2012. With a wink, he pointed to the breaks in the chronology and teased: “Something’s missing there!”
There was a reason for the dig: in those two seasons, Klopp’s club at the time, Borussia Dortmund, won the championship shield. When the Germany coach then looked at the cup chronology and spotted the gap there too from Dortmund’s Double year in 2012, he added with a grin: “And here as well. That’s strange.” It was a typically “Kloppo” moment and social media loved it.
A classic in the 2010s: when BVB were Bayern’s ultimate opponents
His playful barb brought back memories of one of the most intense eras in recent Bundesliga history. Under Klopp, Borussia Dortmund enjoyed a golden spell between 2008 and 2015 and at times grew into Bayern Munich’s “ultimate opponents”.
With stars such as Robert Lewandowski, Mario Götze and Mats Hummels leading the way, BVB steamrollered the league with their ferocious style of play. The peak came in 2012, when Dortmund not only wrestled the title away from Bayern but also thrashed their rivals 5-2 in the DFB Cup final at Berlin’s Olympiastadion to complete a historic Double.
Getty Images”Bayern reflex” brings about a change in the balance of power
That humiliation sparked the notorious “Bayern reflex” and built towards the ultimate showdown in the 2012/13 season. The two arch-rivals then met at the peak of their rivalry in the first all-German Champions League final at Wembley Stadium in London.
Bayern won 2-1 after Arjen Robben struck late for the winner. That goal launched a historic run of titles for the Munich side, a period also closely tied to the transfers of BVB stars Götze, Lewandowski and Hummels.
Then came Klopp’s move to Liverpool in 2015 and another new chapter. With the Reds, he won the Champions League in 2019 and, a year later, the historic 20th English league title.