Jurgen Klopp has criticised the scheduling for Liverpool’s match against Newcastle later this month and called on BT Sport to push the kick-off time back.
The Reds travel to St James’ Park in the Premier League on April 30 in the early-kick off on Saturday afternoon, which comes after they host Villarreal in the Champions League semi-final on the Wednesday night less than 72 hours earlier.
It is a quick turnaround that Klopp is less than impressed with, and he has called on BT Sport to move the match back to a later slot on Saturday to give his players a few more hours to recover.
“It’s the first time that we are in the semi-finals of two competitions and that’s our problem, I have no problem dealing with that,” Klopp said.
“But (the early kick-off) is a massive difference, each hour counts. If you want to cause us problems you send us to 12:30 at Newcastle.
“I don’t understand it. I can understand that people want to see a football match between Liverpool and Newcastle but I don’t see why any team should have an advantage or a disadvantage.
“The league and the broadcaster really have to try at least to help. We will see. I haven’t heard anything yet. Nobody from BT contacted me yet.
“But I’d say common sense would tell you that it’s probably the right thing to do to move the game slightly backwards.”
Reports on Thursday afternoon suggested that Liverpool have made an official request for the kick-off to be pushed back against Newcastle, though they are not particularly confident they will get their wish.
