KLOPP HAS A POP OVER ‘RUTHLESS’ RAMOS
Kop chief’s blast over ‘that’ foul
JURGEN KLOPP has finally blasted Real Madrid’s Champions League bad boy Sergio Ramos, labelling him “ruthless and brutal”.
Spanish star Ramos was involved in two incidents in Liverpool’s 3-1 Final defeat in Kiev in May.
First he forced Mo Salah out of the game with a dislocated shoulder and then Klopp claims he took out keeper Loris Karius with another brutal challenge.
Now the Liverpool coach, whose team take on Manchester United in Michigan tonight, has broken his silence on events which left a bad taste in his mouth at the end of last season.
“I watched that back, of course,” said Klopp.
“If you watch it back and you’re not with Real Madrid, then you think it’s ruthless and brutal.
“You don’t think, ‘Wow, good challenge’. It was ruthless.
“I don’t think Mo would have always got injured in that situation, and this time it was unlucky. But it’s an experience that we cannot have.
“I’m not sure if it’s an experience we’ll have again – go there and put an elbow to the goalkeeper, put their goalscorer down like a wrestler in midfield and then you win the game.
“It was a little bit like that, and that was the story of the game.
“Ramos said a lot of things that I didn’t like. As a person, I didn’t like the reactions of him.
Courage
“He was like, ‘Whatever, what do they want? It’s normal’. No, it’s not normal.
“If you put all of the situations of Ramos together – and I’ve watched football since I was fiveyears-old – then you will see a lot of situations with Ramos.
“In the final the year before, against Juventus, he was responsible for the red card for Juan Cuadrado. He touched him and Ramos makes a big act of it. Nobody talks about that afterwards.
“The ref should have had the courage to decide our game. It doesn’t feel right, but it is what it is, we can’t change it.
“Obviously, in this situation, we didn’t win and people will say I’m weak or a bad loser or a whiner. I’m not. I accept it. It’s not like I wake up in the morning and think, ‘Ramos!’. I’m fine with it.”
In the wake of the defeat, Liverpool produced a medical report claiming Karius was suffering from concussion as a result of the Ramos challenge.
They believe that was a factor in the two crucial mistakes the keeper made as Liverpool sank to defeat.
Klopp knew the move would be seen by many as a desperate attempt by Liverpool to protect Karius from the criticism that came his way, but insisted there was nothing dubious about the medical report.
“How can we imagine that a player, who didn’t show any signs, not in the game, not before that game, that he will do these things and that it’s not influenced by the knock?” said Klopp.
“It was very important for Loris. He thought he was 100 per cent responsible and the doc told him, ‘You’re not’. In this moment, your vision is different.
“I knew what people would think when we did it and made it public – that we were only doing it for us, that it makes no sense, but that’s fine.
“But the doctor was the head of the concussion department of the NFL in Boston.
“He said it was likely Loris was influenced. Can he say for sure? Of course he can’t, but it’s likely, so that’s the word.”