When discussing Manchester City’s financial situation, Jurgen Klopp replied with anger, disgust, and real sorrow to allegations of “boderline xenophobia.”
After a career of battling discrimination in whatever form, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers claimed he couldn’t live with himself if the charges attributed to an unnamed and unidentified Manchester club executive were true.
What reply did Jurgen Klopp give on being called as ‘xenophobic’?
Outraged by such unfounded and disrespectful charges, the Anfield board moved quickly to submit legal letters to at least two publications, stating that they must be withdrawn.
And when asked whether he had a reaction to the charge of xenophobia, after fighting it and other forms of racism during his career, he was obviously offended, saying there were NO basis for such claims.
Klopp said, “Definitely. I don’t feel, in this specific case, I don’t feel it at all. I know myself. And you cannot hit (me) with something which is miles away from my personality”.
“If I was – I cannot remember the word, wow! (xenophobic) – like this I would hate it. I would hate myself for being like this“.
He further added, “I have said a lot of times things that were a little bit open for misunderstanding. I know that. It was not intentionally, just sometimes you say things and you think “oh my God! It can be interpreted like this!“
Klopp had spoken about the wealth of football clubs funded by nations before of the weekend meeting with City, but he made it plain that he was not implying any wrongdoing or breach of the law by any team.
However, the response that appeared in various media sites seemed out of proportion to his statements, raising the issue of whether it was intended to silence debate over the sport’s economics.
When questioned if he thought this was the case, he simply said, “Not all of you journalists see things the same way, like your chief writers. Some see it differently. It’s the whole world, obviously”.
Klopp said on Tuesday that he is far from flawless in his conduct, noting the FA charge for his red card during Sunday’s game when he shouted strongly over a blatant foul on Mo Salah.
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