Liverpool bring back ‘brain trainers’ for Wembley final clash with Chelsea

Co-founders of the mental strength training apparatus ‘Neuro11’ were the unlikely heroes in Liverpool’s Carabao Cup success in 2022

Liverpool will enlist the help of the ‘brain trainers’ who were their secret penalty-shoot out weapon in their last Wembley meetings with Chelsea as the clubs prepare to lock horns again in the Carabao Cup final.
Dr Niklas Heusler and Patrick Hantschke, co-founders of the mental strength training apparatus ‘Neuro11’, are specialists in ensuring players are psychologically ready when called upon to take set-pieces and spot-kicks.
Their relationship with Liverpool caught attention after they were namechecked by Jurgen Klopp in the immediate aftermath of the cup final wins in 2022.
Liverpool have continued to call upon the German-based company when necessary. Their representatives were invited to the club’s AXA training centre to work with the players before Wednesday’s second leg against Fulham and they will be back in Merseyside ahead of the final on February 25.
“They work for us,” said Klopp.
“They were here last week because there was the potential of a penalty shoot-out against Fulham. We will definitely do something before the final. They will be in that week [before the final].”
Liverpool’s connection to Neuro11 is heavily promoted on the company website, with Klopp’s endorsement alongside a video of Heusler and Hantschke working with the club’s regular penalty taker Mohamed Salah and free-kick and corner specialist Trent Alexander-Arnold.
“We are now able to specifically train the mental and shot-precision abilities of our players directly on the pitch, in a way that wasn’t possible for us until now,” Klopp says on the webpage.
“Since mental strength plays such an important role at the highest level, we‘re excited about working together with these guys.“
Heusler and Hantschke describe themselves as ‘a mixture of footballers, scientists and businessmen’.
They caught Liverpool’s attention after penning a letter to the club in 2019, vowing to improve set-piece and penalty performance.
On the advice of Liverpool’s assistant manager Pep Lijnders, a meeting was set-up with Klopp, training sessions arranged and – following positive feedback from the squad and coaches – a deal was signed.
It was not the first time that Klopp adopted what traditionalists might consider ‘quirky’ ideas in pursuit of the extra one percent that might decide a match’s outcome.
He was the first Premier League coach to use a throw-in coach, Thomas Gronnemark, and in the year before the club won the Premier League title he sought the expertise of professional surfer Sebastian Steudtner to mentally coach his players in how to deal with situations of extreme stress in a sporting environment.
Speaking after the 2022 Carabao Cup final win – in which all ten Liverpool outfield players and goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher scored in the penalty shoot-out – Klopp explained why he is so enthusiastic about embracing different approaches to training.
“It is a very interesting new chapter for us because it’s not only about penalties. It’s about free-kicks and all kinds of set-pieces,” Klopp said.
“They are not here all the time – they are in Germany obviously – but they come over quite frequently. It’s about the confidence they gave the boys that they really can do it.”