Liverpool fans support Jugen Klopp with ‘YNWA’ banner outside Anfield after Leicester defeat

Liverpool fans have demonstrated their love for under-fire manager Jurgen Klopp by hanging a banner in support of the German outside Anfield.

Despite Liverpool having 30 fewer points than after the same number of games last season, and on the back of another embarrassing collapse in their 3-1 loss to Leicester City, Reds fans have come out fighting for the manager who brought their first league title in 30 years and the Champions League in 2019.

A huge new banner in support of the German – who this week told of his devastation following his mother’s death last month – has been tacked across the gates of Anfield, reading ‘Jurgen Klopp YNWA’, shorthand for You’ll Never Walk Alone, Liverpool’s club motto and fan anthem. 

A new large banner showing support appeared outside Anfield reading: ‘Jurgen Klopp YNWA’

Liverpool supporters have come out fighting for their beleaguered but loved manager Klopp

Klopp was as downcast as he has ever been before the media after the Leicester loss, when he quietly admitted that Liverpool’s title defence was over, although Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola later disagreed. 

The Reds are in abysmal form, taking just nine points from a possible 30 and losing four of their last six league matches. They have almost slipped out of the top four and are 13 points behind league leaders City. 

Things have deteriorated so much that Klopp has shot to the top of the bookies’ list for the next top-flight manager to leave their club. 

But channeling the same resolve as the Liverpool fans, star striker Mohamed Salah has also shown defiance in the face of the club’s woes. 

In a Twitter post on Sunday, the Egyptian said he and his team-mates ‘will fight like champions to the very end’.

‘We will not allow this season to be defined by the recent results we’ve had. That is my promise to all of you,’ Salah continued. 

Star striker Mohamed Salah has also promised that he and the team ‘will fight like champions’

Liverpool’s next match is a tough assignment against RB Leipzig in the first leg of their last-16 Champions League tie on Tuesday. 

The latest defeat against Leicester came days after a devastated Klopp revealed he had to miss his mother’s funeral in Germany amid strict travel restrictions due to the Covid pandemic.

The Liverpool boss paid tribute to his mother Elisabeth, who died on January 19 aged 81, telling fans, ‘She meant everything to me’. 

Germany has banned travellers from Britain due to the new Covid variant, although exceptions are allowed for people experiencing an ‘immediate family bereavement’. 

Travellers must show a negative test and self-isolate for 10 days upon arrival in Germany, although this can drop to five in some areas.

Passengers returning from Germany in Britain must do the same after arriving in the UK.

Liverpool were beaten 3-1 by Leicester in Saturday’s early Premier League kick-off

The FA can apply for special exemptions for elite sports people and managers that allows them to attend training and matches without self-isolating, provided they test negative for coronavirus.

These exemptions are granted on a case-by-case basis by the Department for Culture Media and Sport and it is not clear if Klopp would have been eligible. 

When paying tribute to his mother, Klopp told Schwarzwalder Bote newspaper: ‘She meant everything to me. She was a real mum in the best sense of the world. As a devout Christian, I know she is in a better place now.

‘The fact that I can’t be at the funeral is due to the terrible times.

‘As soon as the circumstances allow, we will hold a wonderful commemoration that is appropriate to it.’