Liverpool recruit Pedro Marques already helped new club win Champions League with 'favor'

With just one game left of the Jürgen Klopp era at Anfield, Liverpool has been working behind the scenes to get things in order ahead of time. A number of key appointments have been made, with highly-rated former staff including Michael Edwards having returned to the fold.

Arne Slot, of course, will be installed as Liverpool's direct replacement for Klopp, but he will come into the position with numerous others also there to help him. FSG is also set to move towards a multi-club model, with the likes of Edwards employed by the US ownership group rather than directly by Liverpool.

Before one of the crowning glories of Klopp's period in charge of Liverpool, the Reds played a friendly with Benfica B to prepare themselves for the 2019 Champions League final against Spurs. The Portuguese side, The Athletic reported, was asked by Julian Ward, who pulled in a favor from Pedro Marques.

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Why is that name significant? Well, Marques, 41, has just joined the ever-growing list of backroom staff brought in by Liverpool's owner, FSG, as the post-Klopp era takes shape. Edwards and Ward have returned, and Marques has also come in as FSG's director of football development.

"We recreated two of their offensive and two of their defensive moments, as well as the set-pieces we thought they’d use in the final," Benfica B boss Renato Paiva explained later in 2019, via Tugascout.

"We replicated their center-back and goalkeeper build-up, their 4-2-3-1 defensive shape with the striker cutting between opposition center-backs and the number 10 obstructing Liverpool’s number six. Vinicius mimicked [Christian] Eriksen, Bernardo acted more like [Dele] Alli and Jose Gomes was [Harry] Kane.

"We had to adapt to that 4-2-3-1 shape, both defensively and in possession, with two midfielders dropping closer to the center-backs during the build-up to try and attract Liverpool’s press. Tottenham would ideally want to attract Liverpool players closer to their box, so after a couple of passes between centre-backs and goalkeeper they can then attack the space in behind with their forwards and full-backs.

"We ended up just making slight tweaks to our regular system. A midfield triangle with Alli moving closer to the opposition center-back (with Kane next to the other), Eriksen moving inwards to draw the full-back in while [Kieran] Trippier covers the wide space. Much like with Son [Heung-min] and [Danny] Rose on the left.

"Klopp complimented us: ‘When you dropped your center-backs to build-up we immediately set up the same press we used against Manchester City and you still managed to surpass it three or four times!’."

Liverpool.com says: The band is very much getting back together at Anfield. Edwards is at the helm for FSG, but Ward and Marques are set to work under him as well. Marques' expertise in the South American market makes him a particularly interesting hire. Perhaps that is a hint as to the direction that the mult-club model will take Liverpool.