‘ Ruthless and Brutal’
> Klopp boss speaks on role Ramos played in their Champions League defeat
JURGEN KLOPP has opened up on the “ruthless and brutal” role Sergio Ramos played in Liverpool’s Champions League defeat for the first time.
Challenges from the Real Madrid defender left forward Mohamed Salah with a serious shoulder injury and goalkeeper Loris Karius – whose errors cost Liverpool the game – suffering from concussion.
The 13-time champions went on to lift the trophy thanks to two Gareth Bale goals and the Reds manager believes Ramos methodically targeted his players labelling the Spaniard a “wrestler” for his actions in Kiev.
“If you watch it back – and you are not with Real Madrid – then you think it is ruthless and brutal,” Klopp said. “I saw the ref taking charge of big games at the World Cup and nobody really thinks about that later.
“But in a situation like that somebody needs to judge it better. If VAR is coming then it is a situation where you have to look again. Not to give a red card but to look again and say: ‘What is that?’ It was ruthless.
“I’m not sure it is an experience we will 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. That was the story of the game.
“Ramos said a lot of things afterwards that I didn’t like. As a person I didn’t like the reactions of him. He was like: ‘Whatever, what do they want? It’s normal.’ No, it is not normal.
“If you put all of the situations of Ramos together then you will see a lot of situations with Ramos. The year before against Juve he was responsible for the red card for (Juan) Cuadrado. Nobody talks about that afterwards.
“It is like we, the world out there, accepts that you use each weapon to win the game. People probably expect that I am the same. I am not.”
He added: “We are aggressive but I always use the word ‘legal as well’. Usually if you try something you will get punished. Someone will see it and ban you for four or five weeks.
“But in this example, no one. This ref should have had the courage to decide that game. In this situation we didn’t get it and, if you write this, people will say I am weak or a bad loser or a whiner. I am not. I accept it. It’s not like I wake up in the morning and think: ‘Ramos!’
“In a final you need to have a bit of luck and we didn’t have it. They had luck in different situations and we didn’t. They scored a bicycle kick, come on! We all know (Gareth) Bale can do that but he probably put more balls from that situation in the stands than in the goal.” – The Independent