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Liverpool Echo

Sport

Ian Doyle

Jurgen Klopp slur can’t distract from the real Man City problem for Liverpool

Jurgen Klopp Manchester City Diogo Jota Hillsborough Liverpool

Some Manchester City supporters marred another absorbing Anfield meeting against Liverpool on Sunday with offensive chants about the Hillsborough and Heysel tragedies.

And it's important to remember some Manchester City supporters marred another absorbing Anfield meeting against Liverpool on Sunday with offensive chants about the Hillsborough and Heysel tragedies.

Because there's one group of people whose actions suggest they would rather everyone was distracted from the fact some Manchester City supporters marred another absorbing Anfield meeting against Liverpool on Sunday with offensive chants about the Hillsborough and Heysel tragedies.

Manchester City.

Let's not dwell too much on the preposterous suggestion, seemingly stemming from sources close to the Etihad, that Jurgen Klopp was "borderline xenophobic" with his pre-match assertion Liverpool cannot compete with the spending power of City and their Abu Dhabi owners.

As the Reds boss intimated, City's level of resource is hardly a secret. He knows it. The assembled journalists know it. City know it. Every supporter knows it. You know it. Hey, even that bloke from down the road who hates football probably knows it.

Of course, City's unease at that being brought into sharp focus is intriguing. It wouldn't be the first time their hierarchy has reacted in an agitated manner to someone pointing out the simple, irrefutable, undisputed fact they have a lot of money at their disposal. A LOT of money.

But the timing was particularly suspicious given it appeared to gloss over the nub of the matter - a repeat of the offensive chants that had been heard at the FA Cup semi-final between the sides at Wembley in April, before which Klopp wasn't accused of any inflammatory comments - with what could easily be construed as a classic and wholly transparent attempt at distraction.

Certainly, the reports suggest City were quick to make it known off the record they were pointing the finger at Klopp.

Liverpool soon released a public statement vowing to ban any supporter found guilty of unacceptable behaviour when complaints emerged of objects being thrown at Pep Guardiola, having already condemned the "vile" chants from some of the away fans. City may well be waiting for further information from the police before addressing the chants, but surely the ability to hear and the possession of some sort of moral compass would have been sufficient reason to let everyone know they acknowledge the songs are abhorrent?

Instead, an apparent alternative approach has now led to Liverpool taking legal steps. This is a situation entirely of City's making, at the very least a clumsy attempt not to be overly critical of their own support, at the very worst a dangerous effort to switch the narrative and apportion blame elsewhere by way of an unattributed slur.

Klopp will never be universally liked. That is an impossibility given his job, a successful manager at a club who historically have acquired fierce rivals due to their periods of dominance over the years. He will hardly be endearing himself to fans of such clubs.

Then there is the burning passion that occasionally manifests itself in an ugly fashion, such as his outburst towards the officials during Sunday's game that saw him sent off by referee Anthony Taylor. The Reds boss later admitted he was wrong, and has been charged. A touchline ban will surely follow, and rightly so.

But even Klopp's most fierce critics would baulk at the allegations of xenophobia. This is a manager who has assembled a multicultural squad, an unashamed humanitarian who has stepped out of the usual football circle to voice his anti-Brexit concerns, his views on human rights in the Middle East and, when the coronavirus pandemic started to take hold, showed levels of compassion far beyond those of much greater power in his adopted country.

Even hinting Klopp is xenophobic is, as leading immigration authority Sunder Katwala stated, absurd. But not as absurd as City's seeming attempts to distract from the fact some of their supporters marred another absorbing Anfield meeting against Liverpool on Sunday with offensive chants about the Hillsborough and Heysel tragedies. That shouldn't be forgotten.

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