Klopp celebrates ‘school reunion’ on return to Dortmund dugout

Former Borussia Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp said his return to the club’s dugout in Saturday’s testimonial match was “like a school reunion,” nine years after his last match as club coach.

Dortmund bid farewell to team stalwarts Jakub Blaszczykowski and Lukas Piszczek, with each captaining a side featuring several club legends as well as current manager Nuri Sahin.

Blaszczykowski’s side, coached by Klopp, won 5-4 in front of 82,000 fans at a sold out Westfalenstadion.

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“It was like a school reunion,” Klopp told Sky Germany, adding “it’s what I always dreamed of: that we’d meet again in life and just have a good time together.

“It’s like coming home. There are so many great memories. It’s nice to see the fans again.”

Klopp spent seven years as Dortmund coach, winning two Bundesliga titles, one German Cup and taking the team to the 2013 Champions League final at Wembley, where they lost to archrivals Bayern Munich.

Klopp, who stepped down as Liverpool boss at the end of last season citing exhaustion, is yet to return to coaching, having said in July “as of today, that’s it for me as a coach.”

The coach poked fun at the ageing players, saying “we had a lot of excess weight in attack, midfield and defence today.”

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Dortmund also said goodbye to defender Mats Hummels, who left the club for Serie A side Roma in the summer.

Hummels, who played 508 games for Dortmund, was one of only a few current players to take the pitch.

He said afterwards “it’s a mix of joy and sadness.

“I’ve spent a lot of my football life here.”