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Jurgen Klopp’s much-talked-about ‘heavy-metal’ football came to define an entire era.

The German coach’s gegenpressing approach became closely linked with high-intensity, relentless attacking football, first at Borussia Dortmund and later at Liverpool, but another Bundesliga club had shown the way earlier.

Hoffenheim had only just arrived in Germany’s top division in 2008, yet their swift rise under Ralf Rangnick turned them into one of the country’s most thrilling teams, and one that clearly caught Klopp’s attention.

Newly promoted Hoffenheim hosted Dortmund early in the 2008/09 Bundesliga campaign, at a time when the wider football establishment was already starting to take notice.

Future Chelsea forward Demba Ba was a central figure in that Hoffenheim side, and he remembers a game that made a deep impression on Klopp and helped shape the footballing ideas the future Liverpool manager would later become famous for.

“It was the fifth matchday of the league,” Ba told FourFourTwo. “Hoffenheim had just been promoted to the Bundesliga.

“Our style of play was a breath of fresh air in Germany. The team played attacking football, giving everything right from the beginning, regardless of the opposition. Our lack of experience in the top flight was hardly visible because we compensated for it with hard work and courage.”

That was obvious straight away when the top-flight newcomers came up against Klopp’s team.

“That day, within just half an hour, we were already 2-0 up against Borussia Dortmund. I remember we played with tremendous intensity.

“I was completely drained afterwards because I had given absolutely everything on the pitch. It was incredible.”

The full significance of that match only became clear to Ba years later, when he spoke again with his former manager.

“Years later, while talking with Ralf Rangnick, he told me an interesting anecdote,” Ba continued. “After that heavy defeat, Klopp admitted to him that from that moment, he wanted all of his teams to play in that way.

“He put it into practice at Dortmund and later at Liverpool. In a way, we were the pioneers of Jurgen’s gegenpressing.”