RT.com
25 Nov 2021, 19:42 GMT+10
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp responded angrily to suggestions that he had "insulted" Africans by referring to the continent's Cup of Nations as a "little tournament".
Klopp oversaw a routine 2-0 Champions League win for his team against Porto at Anfield on Wednesday night, which continued their perfect record in the tournament thus far this season.
Afterwards, however, Klopp was questioned by an angry journalist about a different competition - the Africa Cup of Nations which will take place from January 9 to February 6 in Cameroon.
Crucially for Liverpool, the continental showpiece will mean they are set to without stars Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita, who will be called up for their respective countries.
That will deprive the Reds of crucial firepower during a crunch part of their Premier League campaign.
Klopp has bemoaned the upcoming absence of his African stars, and recently described the AFCON tournament as "little".
Klopp was confronted about those comments on Wednesday night by a journalist who claimed he had "insulted" Africans with the remarks.
"I think it's an insult to the players, an insult to the fans, an insult to the people on the continent and I think you owe the continent an apology," said the angry reporter.
In response, Klopp said he had simply meant the phrase "ironically".
"What I meant was, if you watch the whole press conference then you might have understood it the right way if you wanted to, because I said there are no international breaks until March now," the German fired back.
"I said 'oh there's a little tournament in January' and I didn't mean a little tournament, I was just saying it's still a tournament, it's ironic. It's still a tournament, a big one. We lose our best players to that tournament..."
Whether he likes it or not, Klopp and Liverpool will still have to contend with the loss of some key names come January as they battle on the Premier League front.
(RT.com)
Get a daily dose of Germany Sun news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Germany Sun.
More InformationDUBLIN, Ireland: Ireland has been praised for taking the lead with a law that would ban imports from Israeli-occupied territories....
Forget dtente, Moscow must fight to the end Many now speak of humanity's drift towards World War III, imagining events similar to...
(250714) -- BRUSSELS, July 14, 2025 (Xinhua) -- EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic attends a joint press conference in Brussels, Belgium,...
Sefcovic noted that the 27-country bloc is preparing potential countermeasures worth 72 billion euros. BRUSSELS, July 14 (Xinhua)...
US President Donald Trump said earlier that he was ready to supply more air defense systems to Ukraine, but the EU would have to foot...
Balochistan [Pakistan], July 14 (ANI): Baloch National Movement (BNM) chairman Naseem Baloch has urged the European Union to immediately...
DUBLIN, Ireland: Temperatures reached 28 degrees in some parts of the country on July 11, and a yellow weather warning is now in place....
BRUSSELS, Belgium: Meta is holding firm on its controversial pay-or-consent model, a move that could lead to fresh antitrust charges...
DUBLIN, Ireland: The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) has issued a strong safety warning ahead of this weekend's expected...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: The Trump administration has started sending some weapons to Ukraine again, just a week after the Pentagon told officials...
DUBLIN, Ireland: Irish Rail incurred over 26,000 euros in damages due to a series of graffiti incidents carried out by a 24-year-old...
SLUBICE, Poland: Poland reinstated border controls with Germany and Lithuania on July 7, following Germany's earlier reintroduction...