02:33Mandatory credit "©UEFA 2021." No resales. Only for news purposes, including broadcast, radio and internet, social media No association to UEFA permitted No alteration permitted other than length
Liverpool FC manager Jurgen Klopp attempted to clarify his comments regarding the upcoming African Cup of Nations. The comments came after Klopp was accused of belittling the tournament by a Nigerian journalist during the post match presser after Wednesday night's champions league victory against Porto in Liverpool.
Earlier in the week, Klopp had ironically called the tournament, which takes place in January and will mean Liverpool lose some of their most important players during a key month of football, as 'A little tournament.' Klopp retained that the comments were iconic, and that he was actually attempting to portray the opposite, that the tournament would mean a huge loss for the team, but the Nigerian journalist saw the situation differently and demanded an apology, leading to a back and forth between the two.
"It was not even close and not even my idea in my mind that I would want to talk about AFCON as a 'little tournament,' or about the continent of Africa like a little continent, not at all. So what I meant is because people said, and if you watch the full press conference, and you might have, if you wanted to understand it the right way, you could have understood it the right way, because they said: 'There's no international break anymore until March.' And I said: 'Oh, there's a little tournament in January,' and I didn't mean a little tournament. I just mean, like you say it, there's still a tournament. It's ironic. There's still a tournament, a big one. We lose our best players to the African Cup of Nations," stated Klopp in his own defence.
Klopp's Liverpool will lose star players and two-thirds of their famous front three during the month of AFCON, Egyptian winger Mohamed Salah and Senegalese attacker Sadio Mane, both key players for Klopp, are expected to feature at the tournament.
Regarding Wednesday's match against Porto, Livepool's win coupled with A.C Milan's win in Madrid means Liverpool have guaranteed themselves first place in the so-called group of death. All the other three teams will play for second place on the final day in an entertaining group that has been unpredictable so far.
UK: Liverpool boss Klopp clashes with Nigerian journalist over AFCON comments
Liverpool FC manager Jurgen Klopp attempted to clarify his comments regarding the upcoming African Cup of Nations. The comments came after Klopp was accused of belittling the tournament by a Nigerian journalist during the post match presser after Wednesday night's champions league victory against Porto in Liverpool.
Earlier in the week, Klopp had ironically called the tournament, which takes place in January and will mean Liverpool lose some of their most important players during a key month of football, as 'A little tournament.' Klopp retained that the comments were iconic, and that he was actually attempting to portray the opposite, that the tournament would mean a huge loss for the team, but the Nigerian journalist saw the situation differently and demanded an apology, leading to a back and forth between the two.
"It was not even close and not even my idea in my mind that I would want to talk about AFCON as a 'little tournament,' or about the continent of Africa like a little continent, not at all. So what I meant is because people said, and if you watch the full press conference, and you might have, if you wanted to understand it the right way, you could have understood it the right way, because they said: 'There's no international break anymore until March.' And I said: 'Oh, there's a little tournament in January,' and I didn't mean a little tournament. I just mean, like you say it, there's still a tournament. It's ironic. There's still a tournament, a big one. We lose our best players to the African Cup of Nations," stated Klopp in his own defence.
Klopp's Liverpool will lose star players and two-thirds of their famous front three during the month of AFCON, Egyptian winger Mohamed Salah and Senegalese attacker Sadio Mane, both key players for Klopp, are expected to feature at the tournament.
Regarding Wednesday's match against Porto, Livepool's win coupled with A.C Milan's win in Madrid means Liverpool have guaranteed themselves first place in the so-called group of death. All the other three teams will play for second place on the final day in an entertaining group that has been unpredictable so far.
Mandatory credit "©UEFA 2021." No resales. Only for news purposes, including broadcast, radio and internet, social media No association to UEFA permitted No alteration permitted other than length
Liverpool FC manager Jurgen Klopp attempted to clarify his comments regarding the upcoming African Cup of Nations. The comments came after Klopp was accused of belittling the tournament by a Nigerian journalist during the post match presser after Wednesday night's champions league victory against Porto in Liverpool.
Earlier in the week, Klopp had ironically called the tournament, which takes place in January and will mean Liverpool lose some of their most important players during a key month of football, as 'A little tournament.' Klopp retained that the comments were iconic, and that he was actually attempting to portray the opposite, that the tournament would mean a huge loss for the team, but the Nigerian journalist saw the situation differently and demanded an apology, leading to a back and forth between the two.
"It was not even close and not even my idea in my mind that I would want to talk about AFCON as a 'little tournament,' or about the continent of Africa like a little continent, not at all. So what I meant is because people said, and if you watch the full press conference, and you might have, if you wanted to understand it the right way, you could have understood it the right way, because they said: 'There's no international break anymore until March.' And I said: 'Oh, there's a little tournament in January,' and I didn't mean a little tournament. I just mean, like you say it, there's still a tournament. It's ironic. There's still a tournament, a big one. We lose our best players to the African Cup of Nations," stated Klopp in his own defence.
Klopp's Liverpool will lose star players and two-thirds of their famous front three during the month of AFCON, Egyptian winger Mohamed Salah and Senegalese attacker Sadio Mane, both key players for Klopp, are expected to feature at the tournament.
Regarding Wednesday's match against Porto, Livepool's win coupled with A.C Milan's win in Madrid means Liverpool have guaranteed themselves first place in the so-called group of death. All the other three teams will play for second place on the final day in an entertaining group that has been unpredictable so far.