August 26, (THEWILL) – Former manager of English Premier League side Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, was at the Merseyside club of one of his erstwhile rivals Liverpool to hand over the awards won by the Reds’ manager Jurgen Klopp and four of his players at the 2020 FIFA The Best gala, which was held virtually last December.
Wenger was there in his role as FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development and was warmly welcomed to Anfield as a very special visitor. There were pictures taken as the 71-year-old FIFA executive handed Klopp The Best Men’s Coach award with smiles and congratulations.
That was followed by Wenger handing out specific awards to other Liverpool stars that merited inclusion in the FIFPro Men’s World 11 during the football season with Liverpool such as goalkeeper Alisson Becker, right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold, centre-back Virgil van Dijk and midfielder Thiago Alcantara.
They all distinguished themselves in helping to end Liverpool’s 30-year wait to be crowned champions of England again when they claimed the 2019-20 Premier League title. Such was their utter dominance of the League that they had virtually wrapped up the title even before the COVID-19 pandemic led to a three-month suspension.
Bayern Munich manager Hansi Flick was in contention against Klopp for the the top coach award and the two German coaches amassed the same amount of voting points. Klopp won because of a tiebreaker resulting from getting more national team coach votes than Flick, who led Bayern Munich to Champions League glory.
In his comments during Wenger’s visit, Klopp was full of praise for the team and staff of the club, whom he conceded made such an award for him a reality.
He said: “Without the boys, the players, it would not have been possible.
“Arsene Wenger said it exactly right when he asked: what do you have to be, to be a good coach? He said it at the end but I think it helps in the beginning as well. A world-class team helps! And I have that, thank God.
“I work in a sensational club, get all the support you need, have only great people around me. So we come here, even in difficult times, every day with a smile on our face. It all makes it easier and makes it possible. I said a couple of times I’m not the biggest believer in these kind of individual awards for coaches but meanwhile I learned we just take it for all of us.
“We can obviously not change the world – one face gets the prize but it’s for all of us and I’m really proud of that.”
Wenger, who has not returned to the daily schedule of managing a football club since leaving Arsenal in April, 2018, took a tour of Liverpool’s ultra-modern AXA Training Centre and took the time to observe as the Reds went through their paces ahead of big Premier League game against Chelsea this weekend.
There was a beautiful moment for the pair of Wenger and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, the midfielder Wenger signed as a teenager from Southampton in 2011. Six years after, the player turned down a new contract and moved to Liverpool for £35 million. They were all smiles as they exchanged pleasantries and chatted briefly.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
