Klopp eager for Pool to move on after Firmino faces no action

JURGEN Klopp has praised Roberto Firmino for how he has coped with allegations of racial abuse hanging over his head.

The Football Association announced this week it had found no evidence that Liverpool striker Firmino racially abused Everton’s Mason Holgate after investigating for more than six weeks.

Holgate accused Firmino of making a racial remark after the pair clashed during the derby meeting in the third round of the FA Cup last month.

Klopp said: “It was a long time. I’m really proud of Roberto, how he dealt with it. We were sure from the first second that there’s nothing to be afraid about from his side so (we are) happy that that’s confirmed now.

“We all take it really seriously. Racism is still in this world something we really need to think about and be careful with but if there’s nothing then we need to sort it as well. All good now, let’s carry on.”

After nine days without a game, Liverpool return to action against West Ham at Anfield on Saturday, where victory would see them climb into second place in the Premier League table above Manchester United for 24 hours at least.

Liverpool face United in a fortnight for a pivotal top-five clash but Klopp stressed that they must not take West Ham lightly.

The Reds boss said: “I am really happy we did not have to play immediately after the Porto game because it would have been quite difficult from this really big result to get the concentration for the really difficult job against West Ham.

“The good thing is we had time to prepare for that in training and usually that helps us.”.