Jurgen Klopp shared a warm reunion with former Liverpool stars Virgil van Dijk and Cody Gakpo before his first match as Germany manager, a 1-1 draw with the Netherlands on Thursday night.
Klopp's new role and reunion
Klopp spent nine years at Liverpool before leaving in the summer of 2024. He joined Red Bull as head of global soccer in early 2025, overseeing its football network. Germany had long been tipped as a potential destination, and in July he replaced Julian Nagelsmann, signing a four-year deal with the German Football Association.
In his first game in charge, Klopp was reunited with his former Liverpool assistants Pep Lijnders and Peter Krawietz. Before kick-off, he was also spotted in conversation with Gakpo and Netherlands captain Van Dijk, exchanging affectionate embraces and broad grins.
Gakpo's late equaliser
Gakpo added to the moment by scoring an injury-time equaliser for the Netherlands, rescuing a 1-1 draw.
Ahead of the match, Klopp had backed Van Dijk after the defender's public clash with Dutch journalists. Relations had soured following the Netherlands' World Cup exit to Morocco.
Van Dijk's criticism and Klopp's support
In a tense media briefing, Van Dijk rejected claims that he influenced tactical changes during the last-16 defeat, calling them 'utter nonsense'. He said: "One of your colleagues also said, of course, that it was my idea to switch to playing with a back five. That is utter nonsense. The fact is, we simply failed at the World Cup; those are the hard facts. We didn't play a good World Cup. It's not about me. You perform together; you're a team. Your claim that I destroyed Dutch football after the World Cup, that sort of thing is completely baseless."
Klopp responded: "I think you yourselves know that you are quite critical. Virgil should tell you that. Our German journalists are pretty good too [at being critical], but you might not even be that much worse. I haven't really followed the Dutch press, but I assume you weren't happy with the elimination. Then the captain gets more criticism too. Virgil has had a lot of great moments in his career and also a few lesser ones. Because he is not only physically present, but normally also because of his performances, I can imagine that he gets singled out a bit."
Van Dijk, 35, could reach 100 caps during the current international break if he plays in all four of the Netherlands' fixtures against Germany, Greece and Serbia (twice).
