Style of play

On his first day at Borussia Dortmund, back in 2008, Jürgen Klopp set out his overriding ambition. He did not talk about trophies or titles, but about identity. “The fans should not only recognise us from our black-and-yellow shirts,” he said. “Even if we were playing in red, everyone in the stadium should think: ‘Woah! That can only be Dortmund’.”

Over the next seven years, he achieved that aim and more. Klopp’s intense, physical signature style — what he himself would later term “heavy metal” football — was immediately identifiable even as his approach became de rigueur across the Bundesliga. Not so much because of his preferred formation — a fluid 4-2-3-1 — but because of the way he played it.

Central