FeatureWhen it 'clicked', inspiring the Hendo shuffle and more - five stories from 'Robbo: My Liverpool'

Released today and available to view on-demand on All Red Video here, the programme celebrates the legacy Robertson created during the past nine years at Anfield.

There is a cast of contributors who offer their insights and appreciation – and here are five of the tales we particularly enjoyed…

Why he could not get in the team at first…

Things were not plain sailing for Robertson in his early months with the Reds.

Alberto Moreno was in possession of the starting left-back spot and the new No.26 made only three appearances before December.

The man who signed him, Jürgen Klopp, reveals in the film exactly why that was the case and, crucially, how the situation came to change.

The manager had met with Robertson ahead of his transfer from Hull City and explained that his defending was an important area for improvement.

“I said, ‘I love everything about your offensive stuff and I don’t like anything pretty much about your defensive stuff, so we have to find a way, we have to find an agreement,’” recalls Klopp.

“‘We only talk because it’s defensive stuff. If it would be the other way around, we wouldn’t talk.

“‘If you would be a great defender but would be completely useless offensively, we wouldn’t talk, but [it’s] because I think I can help you with defensive stuff. But it only works if you let me help you.’

“‘I can tell you what you have to do. You have to do it yourself, I cannot play for you.’ ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah!’ Back in the days, the shy Andy Robertson agreed 100 per cent, ‘Yeah, of course, boss, great, we’ll do that’ and stuff like this.

“So I told him everything and he did nothing, for pretty much half a year!”

A knock on the door of the boss’ office would prove to be the catalyst.

Klopp continues: “He came and asked, ‘What am I doing wrong? What can I do? I work so hard’ and stuff like this.

“‘Oh, oh, stop, you don’t. I mean, yeah, you run around, you do the stuff you like, you do stuff you’re good at, but you didn’t improve a bit defensively.’ ‘Oh, why?’

“‘You still don’t make the last step in the challenge. It’s a simple thing. I cannot play football, I never could but I cannot play football anymore, but even I have a chance to get past you, because of the distance’, football stuff.

“And honestly, it was the last bit, and I told him that before but when I told him before it didn’t click. In that moment I saw it click.

“So, the next day, everything was different. The day after that, Alberto Moreno got injured. And I think we all can say the rest is history.”

Robbo’s assist in the ‘Hendo shuffle’

Robertson was a mainstay of the XI from that moment, and he and the Reds went on a journey all the way to the greatest glories.

Having been runners-up in the Champions League in 2018 and the Premier League in 2018-19, they got their hands on silverware on June 1, 2019.

A 2-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur in Madrid that night crowned Klopp’s men as the kings of Europe and precipitated the debut of the ‘Hendo shuffle’ – captain Jordan Henderson’s personal trophy-lift routine.

And it turns out, the iconic celebration was partly inspired by Robertson.

Trent Alexander-Arnold says of the run-up to the game: “You imagine every scenario. Everyone’s putting on a brave face and everyone’s kind of keeping it cool, and we are quite a relaxed team because we knew that we’d earned our spot, but inside you’ve got that little bit of tension within you.

“Having a person like Robbo, all the time from when the season ended literally up until pre-match he was going around saying, ‘Yeah, we’ve won it, don’t worry.’

“You could tell he didn’t actually mean it, he wasn’t already just writing it off that we’ve won it. But he was just taking that edge off. Having someone just going around saying that just puts a smile on your face.”

Picking up the story, Henderson explains: “He knew that I hated talking about winning leagues or winning the Champions League, whatever it may be.

“I was very much focused on the next game and that’s it. Whereas Robbo played into that a little bit, he would wind us up and he’d be doing like, when I’d walk into the shower he’d be doing like the little shuffle and then like [pretending] lifting the trophy and stuff like that, and I’d be fuming.

“And that’s where actually, to be fair, when I lifted the Champions League and I do like the shuffle to the team and then turn, that was sort of around that when Robbo was doing it. He’d be doing that in the shower. So that was part of that.”

Last Man Standing in Madrid

The party that followed in Madrid went long into the night – and longest of all for Robertson and Adam Lallana.

Having outlasted Sir Kenny Dalglish in the competition to keep the celebrations going, the pair ‘did not sleep a wink’.

Looking back to that occasion, Lallana details why he and Robertson were so determined to live the moment in the right manner.

“When it comes to situations like that, that’s where me and Robbo really kind of connect,” says the former Reds midfielder.

“In terms of – I’m trying to put this in the right way – he came from Dundee [United], Hull, played in the lower leagues in Scotland, lower level, I’ve done a couple of years in League One.

“So, I almost feel like we’ve got that connection where we’ve done the hard yards lower down, and then obviously to win the Champions League, it was like we had that little bit of, we’ve come from [here], we’ve played here and then we’ve reached the pinnacle.

“There’s just that bit of connection that we’ve always had, really. And yeah, to celebrate how we did, me and him had to carry the flag, really, all night.”

‘Crying like babies’

Robertson was one of the players to have been part of Liverpool’s Premier League-winning squads in both 2019-20 and 2024-25.

Alisson Becker, of course, was another.

And the goalkeeper shares his memories of the emotions that poured out on the day in April 2025 when the Reds confirmed that second title alongside supporters inside Anfield.

“When we cried like babies!” says Alisson. “Oh my God, that was an amazing moment.

“I think after that game everybody was so happy and so relieved as well at the same time. I think me, Robbo, Mo [Salah], Virgil [van Dijk], the players that are longer here, we all carry this pressure to make more for the club.

“I think when you achieve that, you feel that this pressure is out a little bit and you can celebrate. You can, in a way, relax. Yeah, we had to play a few games more, but being a champion you already relax a little bit from the responsibility of getting the points. You can enjoy more, in a way.

“But that moment is something really special.”

A poignant tradition

Speaking during the programme, Conor Bradley opens up about a special annual tribute Robertson was key to organising in memory of Diogo Jota earlier this year.

“Last year we went to Cheltenham. Players-wise I think it was me, Robbo, Caoimh [Kelleher] and Diogo,” says Bradley.

“When the news of Diogo and what happened, we said we’d have to go to Cheltenham again this year, so that’s what we did. Whenever we went, Diogo had a little Peaky [Blinders] cap on.

“We actually decided to get hats, Peaky hats, for everybody so we could get a photo of everybody with the Peaky hats on. I think we had a Portugal flag with us as well.

“I always remember on the bus on the way, Robbo did a speech about Diogo and I just thought, ‘Fair play’ because I was nearly tearing up listening to it, never mind if you had to say it.

“That’s obviously a special link. I always remember Diogo, the day we went to Cheltenham, just laughing and having the best time of his life. You wouldn’t think that from a lad from Portugal, he would be going to horse racing.

“It’s definitely something I hope we continue to do because it’s a nice little tribute, I think, for Jots.”