STARS WARNED ON RACISM
A sweater for Klopp
JURGEN KLOPP is sweating on referee Martin Atkinson’s report after hurling a water bottle while celebrating Liverpool’s equaliser at Arsenal. The Reds boss slammed the bottle into the ground and punched the air after Roberto Firmino made it 3-3 at the Emirates on Friday. He immediately apologised to the Arsenal supporters in whose direction the bottle was hurled and reiterated his apology after the game. Klopp said: “I was happy and it was a kind of aggressive happy. I react sometimes a little bit strange. “Maybe it’s not nice, but I took it back and I could empty it afterwards so nothing serious.” The FA will wait to see whether Atkinson includes the incident in his report before deciding on any action. ENGLAND’S World Cup stars are to be given advice on how to deal with racism in Russia.
Boss Gareth Southgate and senior FA officials have decided they need to confront the issue head-on before England leave for their World Cup base in Repino, near St Petersburg, next summer.
They want to be proactive, rather than reactive, and have a plan in place to deal with any potential flashpoints.
They already invited former England and Liverpool star John Barnes to give a talk, before the World Cup qualifier with Scotland in June, on his own England career, which spanned 12 years from 1983 to 1995.
Racism formed a part of his chat with Southgate’s squad, JAMES MILNER has ordered his Liverpool team-mates to start learning from their mistakes after yet nother night of frustration.
The Reds threw away a two-goal lead against top- four rivals Arsenal on Friday and had to settle for 3-3 draw.
It wasn’t the first time they have been in a commanding position, or even a good one, then blown it this season.
Their gung-ho, Fab Four-inspired attacking play has proved mightily effective and very watchable.
But there have been times when they have needed to be sensible and haven’t been, and other times when lapses of concentration have proved costly.
The visit to the Emirates saw the latest implosion by Jurgen Klopp’s men.
And, even though Simon Mignolet was guilty of another clanger for the Arsenal equaliser, Roberto Firmino n needed to take his share of the blame af after squandering enough chances to p put the game beyond the home side.
Milner (left) said: “We are a relatively yo young squad, so we’ll learn from these th t things – but if you don’t learn, it’s no good. It’s fine going through these things, we had it in the Champions League game against Sevilla as well, but it’s making sure you learn from it. “We’ve got a great bunch of players, top class, quality, great attitude as well. So, hopefully, we can get better at that side of game management. “Not to take your foot off the gas, but to win the ball and maybe try not to score, keep it a bit longer and build the attacks a bit slower and take the sting out of the game and take the momentum out of it.” Laughing wearily, he added: “The positions we’ve been in at times this season and thrown games away, it is frustrating with the quality we have. “Attacking football has defined the team, but you have to know when to rein it in a bit rather than try to score every time we get it. “It’s a natural instinct, but it is about the result. “We’ve scored more than two goals again, which is fantastic, but it is all about getting the three points.” Liverpool can show an almost immediate understanding of the pitfalls of their play against Swansea on Boxing Day. Milner added: “We’ve got the hard bit. That is going out and being good enough to pull teams apart, like we do. “The easy part is the bit that we’re not doing so well at the moment – and it is something we can learn very quickly.” including stars Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford and Dele Alli.
FA sources said the Three Lions group fully engaged with the one-time winger.
Barnes related his own experiences of racial abuse, which Southgate’s stars found relevant to them even though some of Southgate’s younger stars weren’t even born when Barnes played his last game
Instinct
for England. The recent incident involving Liverpool youngster Rhian Brewster, who was allegedly racially abused by Spartak Moscow captain Leonid Moronov during a UEFA Youth League match earlier this month, has also brought Russia’s problem into sharper focus.
A recent report detailed 89 incidents in Russia between June last year and May 2017.