As Liverpool prepare for their Champions League semi-final second leg away at Villarreal on Tuesday night, they know if they are to reach their 10th European Cup final it will have been without the help of the Premier League.
The Reds came through the last week unscathed as their push for an unprecedented quadruple continues, beating the La Liga outfit 2-0 at Anfield last Wednesday night before defeating Newcastle United 1-0 in Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off. However, given their trip to St. James’ Park fell just two and a half days after their Champions League semi-final first leg, they had asked the Premier League to push back their trip to Tyneside.
“If you want to cause us problems you send us to 12.30 at Newcastle,” Jurgen Klopp bemoaned before his side’s FA Cup semi-final clash with Man City. “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.
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“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.
“We had it last week before we played City (in the Premier League). We had an away game and arrived the next day. Travelling is intense. Will it give an advantage? I have no idea. For both teams I think their games were intense.”
The Premier League belatedly rejected Liverpool’s request, with confirmation the game would go ahead as planned coming a week after Klopp’s public criticism. As a result, the German made five changes to his side that faced Newcastle, and is again expected to rotate against Villarreal on Tuesday night.
Fortunately for the Reds, they come into their trip to Spain off the back of wins in both games, with a much-changed side ultimately not stopping them picking up all three points on Saturday. As a result, Klopp offered no further comment on the 12.30 kick-off, though you wonder what the German would have said had his side slipped up and fallen behind in the Premier League title-race.
Ultimately, Liverpool will have been left unsurprised by the Premier League’s lack of help. It is simply easier for them to just do nothing and not intervene when the title is at stake, with the stringent following of the current fixture-list without any consideration or flexibility no doubt prompting exasperation at Anfield. But at least it's in the name of sporting integrity and fairness.
Especially when the Reds would have seen, north of the border, the Scottish Premier League grant Rangers’ request for their visit to Motherwell to be brought forward a day, to allow extra preparation for their Europa League semi-final clash with RB Leipzig. The SPFL even vocalised how they were "very pleased" to accommodate the ‘Gers' request and wished the club "the very best of luck in their European campaign".
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But at least all Premier League sides would surely be in the same boat. While other associations might move fixtures to aid their members’ European exploits, in England the fixture list is set in stone.
So imagine the rolled eyes behind closed doors at Anfield when it was confirmed on Tuesday that the Premier League had granted West Ham’s request to move their fixture with Man City.
The Hammers had been due to host the reigning Premier League champions on Sunday 15 May at 4.30pm. However, due to potential participation in the Europa League final on Wednesday 18 May, kick-off was brought forward to 2pm to aid their European exploits.
The fact that they aren’t in the final yet, having lost 2-1 at home to Eintracht Frankfurt in the first leg of the semi-finals, evidently matters not. One rule for Liverpool, another for West Ham it seems, with the Premier League clearly just making things up as they go along.
Of course, the fact that if West Ham were to reach the Europa League final, they could benefit the Premier League by becoming its fifth side in next season’s Champions League won’t have entered their trail of thought at all. And with the kick-off change having minimal impact on Man City, beyond clashing with their Women’s side’s involvement in the FA Cup final, it’s win win for the suits.
How is that fair? The baffling fact that it now raises these questions regarding why their ruling on Liverpool’s trip to Newcastle was different clearly matters not.
Regardless of that contradictory decision, the Reds marched on and are just 90 minutes away from the Champions League final in Paris. And as a result, they’re also 180 minutes away from a European Super Cup trip to Helsinki at the start of next season - a game where they could be taking on West Ham, seemingly with a helping hand from the Premier League.
And while the Hammers will be able to thank the Premier League for their cooperation in aiding their efforts as they look to win silverware in Europe, if Klopp’s own men are to succeed, it will be in spite of the Premier League pencil pushers with such contrasting decisions leaving a rather sour taste in the mouth.
