Jurgen Klopp has denied accusations from Manchester City that he inflamed the situation between the Premier League champions and Liverpool and said his comments were misunderstood.
The German spoke about City on Friday when he described them as the best team in the world, Pep Guardiola as the finest manager and Erling Haaland as the game’s outstanding striker but also said that Liverpool could not compete with City and two other clubs – Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle – financially.
After a stormy game on Sunday, Liverpool condemned City supporters for “vile” chants about the Heysel and Hillsborough disasters, while coins were thrown by fans of the Merseyside club at Guardiola.
Klopp condemned that after the match before City blamed him, as well as suggesting he was “borderline xenophobic” in his comments about the three state-owned clubs.
The 55-year-old chose not to address that allegation and he was adamant he was not trying to provoke anyone.
He said: “That is the life of people who speak in public. It is not the first time I am misunderstood. So I know what I thought when I said it. When someone misunderstands that or wants to misunderstand that, I cannot help that.
“I know I have to be careful and I’ve known that for years and when I don’t, I realise it from time to time. I just answer and say what I think. I will try to do it in the future. It is never my aim to blame anyone or whatever, but I say what I know about things or how I judge it how I see it. I cannot change it. Nothing that has been made of it was my intention.”
Klopp was disappointed the subsequent fallout overshadowed Liverpool’s best result of the season, adding: “All the talk goes about what I said and what I did and what people made of it. I don’t think that should be the case.”
