Liverpool for the quadruple? Kop celebration shows Klopp believes anything is possible for rampant Reds

A special night called for a special celebration, and Jurgen Klopp wasn’t about to disappoint.

We are well used to the Liverpool boss’ antics in front of the Kop by now, but rarely have we seen him like this.

A five-star performance and a six-goal victory drew no fewer than eight fist pumps from the manager, as well as a smile that could have lit up the whole of Merseyside. 

“I got a little bit carried away,” Klopp admitted after watching his side make mincemeat of Leeds United at Anfield on Wednesday night, but we can forgive him for that, surely?

This was the Reds’ biggest home league win since September 2007, their ninth in a row in all competitions, and one which cuts the gap to Manchester City at the top of the Premier League to just three points.

It’s hard not to get swept along by Liverpool at the moment, and it was hard not to see Klopp’s celebration here, and the response it drew from his supporters, as a sign that this is a manager, a team, a club and a fanbase that believes special things are coming their way. 

Why wouldn’t they? Playing like this, who do they need to fear?

Not City, with whom an April showdown at the Etihad looms large, and certainly not Chelsea, who await in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final at Wembley.

Liverpool already have one foot in the last eight of the Champions League, and none of Europe’s elite sides will want to face them right now.

They look like a team utterly at ease with itself, confident and cohesive, and capable of winning games by any means necessary.

If you fancy a fight, they’ll stand toe-to-toe. If you want to stand off then they’ll find a way through.

And if you want to come out and have a go, then the chances are you’ll get what Leeds got here. 

Battered.

Wherever you look there are shows of strength. Liverpool made seven changes against Norwich last weekend and six against Leeds, but you’d never have known.

The intensity was the same, the quality was the same and so was the outcome. Whoever Klopp plugs in at the moment, and whoever he brings off the bench, they’re fit, firing and ready to deliver.

Mohamed Salah, of course, is the team’s talisman, its leading scorer and its star name.

The Egyptian took his season’s tally to 27 with a pair of penalties against Leeds, and added a sublime assist for good measure.

The total of 44 goals he achieved in his debut season at Anfield, 2017-18, looks well within reach between now and May. How scary a thought is that?

But this is far from a one-man show.

Liverpool now have the Premier League’s top three goalscorers in Salah, Diogo Jota and Sadio Mane, and boast top three assist-makers too in Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson.

Overall, they have scored 106 goals in all competitions, and they have now kept seven clean sheets in their last 10 matches, conceding only three times.

What more could you wish for in a team? Whether it’s the main men or the support cast, everyone has the script nailed down.

Klopp’s squad is as strong now as it has ever been, the strongest in the country perhaps, and that competition has driven the standard up to a new, remarkable level.

And so we get to see special things on a weekly basis. Things like Joel Matip, striding through midfield like Steven Gerrard and finishing like Robbie Fowler. That’s been coming, that goal.

We get to see Thiago Alcantara, as fit and as sharp as he’s been since his arrival on Merseyside, demonstrating exactly why Reds fans couldn’t believe their luck when they were able to prise him from Bayern Munich.

What a sight the Spaniard is in this kind of form. 

What a sight Salah is, a supreme goalscorer and an elite creator, yet one still willing to harry and to press and to chase back for the good of the team.

The same goes for Mane, a difference-maker in every sense, while new signing Luis Diaz looks like he’s been here for years rather than weeks. Another feather in the cap for the club’s recruitment team, that one.

No wonder Klopp was smiling as he headed down the tunnel on Wednesday night. He can do no wrong at the minute, and nor can his players. 

The key now is to ensure they have something real to show for it come May. Something silver and shiny.

However, on recent evidence, the question is not whether Liverpool will win a trophy this season, rather how many.

One, two, three or four? Klopp’s eight fist pumps on Wednesday suggest he’s thinking about them all. Starting at Wembley on Sunday.