Liverpool icon Lucas Leiva opens up on Jurgen Klopp's early days and turning point at Anfield

Via Mirror

It was October 2015 and a few Liverpool players who weren’t away on international duty nervously waited in the physio room at the club’s old Melwood training ground to meet their new boss.

Lucas Leiva, when asked what for his first impression of Jurgen Klopp.

“Well he was very tall,”

Lucas added

“I remember he came into the physio room, he was smiling and very positive,”

"From that moment we felt that something special was starting.”

The German is imposing in size and he would go on to have a gargantuan impact

Something special would indeed happen but it took work. And a lot of it.

It is impossible to build without foundations and Lucas was one of those who may not have been around to see the finished construction, but played a part in laying that groundwork

Lucas said:

“Of course Liverpool as a club is a unique club, you feel like a real family,”

“In that moment we felt something was kind of losing that unity and spirit, but he [Klopp] put everything together.

“He put together the staff that work there every day, the security, the people who do the food, he brought back that [unity].

“That was important to perform. If things out of the pitch works well, things on the pitch will start to happen.”

Lucas added

“Of course we had a lot of doubts, not about him, but how he would change things,”

“The work he had done at [Borussia] Dortmund before, left us with a lot of hope.

“One thing I noticed from the first day, he kind of got a lot of information from everyone at the club, starting from the kit man to the players to understand the moment [we were in].

“He didn’t want to just change the team but to get better for the club. He has achieved that. He impacted everywhere. Not only the team of course.”

Klopp didn’t arrive and start to change everything straight away.

Lucas explained

“He listened a lot,” said Lucas. “Until he really put his way of playing, his style, he wanted to make us feel comfortable.

“He changed the system and spoke with a few of us and asked us with what formation we would feel comfortable and think with the characteristics of the players, would fit better.

“We played the way we said. It was a 0-0 against Tottenham. But we showed some improvement. We were happy with the 0-0 because we were in a very difficult moment.”

There were “ups and downs” along the way as Lucas puts it in that first season as Klopp slowly started to change their style.

“Then there was West Brom at home when the Reds were mocked for bowing in front of the Kop after a 2-2 draw.

“He brought everyone together, not to celebrate but show the fans something special was happening,”

Liverpool lost the League Cup final to Manchester City in February before a more crushing loss to Sevilla in the Europa League decider in May.

But that sparked one of the moments Klopp’s success of seven major trophies was built upon

Lucas said about defeat in basel

“Everyone wanted to just go to their rooms, rest and sleep and think about the game,”

“But he brought everyone together and said it wasn’t a failure, it was really important to stick together.

“That mood, that energy created at that party was of course important as well for the next year and the following years.

“We understood that it is very easy to stick together when you win, when you celebrate things and you are happy but it is very hard to stick together and don’t blame each other when you lose games.

“To be honest, I felt strange at first but I ended up enjoying it a lot and a lot of things I don’t remember because I had a good night!

“That is what he wanted, I made the most of it I’m sure of that. We got back to the next season with that spirit.”

The spirit grown from a few liquid spirits shared would help Liverpool