It was a warm August morning in 2018 when Jurgen Klopp, fresh-faced and full of life, made the analogy. Surveying the size of the task in front of Liverpool, he said they were ‘like Rocky Balboa, not Ivan Drago’ and had to fight with all they had to reach the top.
Liverpool’s rivals, primarily Manchester City, did not like the idea Klopp was in charge of some plucky upstarts, but the imagery was colourful and the narrative was set. This group of players was going to run through brick walls and nothing, not even the might of City, would stop them.