LONDON, Dec 15, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has
reacted angrily to a proposal that could see the Champions League group stage
transformed into a 32-team division.
Reigning European champions Liverpool already have a packed fixture
programme, with the runaway Premier League leaders due to fly to Qatar for
the Club World Cup less than 24 hours after Saturday’s 2-0 win over Watford
at Anfield.
Indeed so congested is their schedule that Liverpool have two games in as
many days next week, with Klopp set to field a youth side for the English
League Cup quarter-final against Aston Villa on Tuesday before the senior
team plays in Doha on Wednesday.
Against this background, it was no surprise that Klopp was decidedly
unimpressed by talk of an increase in Champions League matches that would
lead to a fresh fixture pile-up.
“Today I read the top clubs want more games in the Champions League — I
am not involved in these plans but that is absolute bollocks,” he told
reporters after the Watford game.
“The fixtures are like they are. You all like watching us suffering. That
is how it is.”
The German added: “You (the media) always look concerned but no-one cares.
We speak about it and no-one else speaks about it.
“We have to do what we do and are quite positive about it.”
Klopp’s mood was not improved by that fact that the Khalifa International
Stadium in Qatar will host five matches — including two semi-finals, a
third-place playoff and the final — in as many days during the Club World
Cup because the Education City Stadium is not ready for the tournament.
“It think it is raining there. It doesn’t help the one pitch we are all
playing on — sensationally good organising,” said Klopp sarcastically.
“All the games are on one pitch and it is raining, I am not sure the
people in Qatar are used to a lot of rain.
“We will see how the one pitch will be but that is a bit of a problem.”