Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has rejected talk that his comments about the financial power of clubs owned by the Gulf state were xenophobic.
The Reds manager was dismissed from the touchline during a feisty 1-0 win over Manchester City on Sunday – leading to a subsequent charge from the FA for improper conduct – but his pre-match observations about three clubs being able to “do what they want” financially have dominated the headlines.
City, Newcastle and Paris Saint-Germain were the three clubs Klopp indirectly referenced, and his comments were perceived by some to be xenophobic and out of order.
However, the German has looked to clarify his position ahead of Liverpool’s midweek game against West Ham United, saying in his pre-match press conference that the accusations made against him are categorically untrue.
“I don’t feel, in this specific case, I don’t feel it at all,” Klopp said.
“I know myself. And you cannot hit me with something which is miles away from my personality. If I was – I cannot remember the word [xenophobic] – like this I would hate it. I would hate myself for being like this.
“I have said a lot of times things that were a little bit open for misunderstanding, I know that. It was not intentionally; just sometimes you say things and you think: ‘Oh my God, it can be interpreted like this!’ But this is not one of these moments.”
Instead, Klopp suggested that his words had been misconstrued – potentially on purpose – and that he had no intention of causing offence.
“That is the life of people who speak in public,” he continued. “It is not the first time I am misunderstood. I know what I thought when I said it. If someone misunderstands that, or wants to misunderstand that, I cannot change that.
“Do I have to be careful? I have known for years that I am not always careful. I realise as well from time to time that I just answer and say what I think. I try to do that in the future as well because usually it is never my aim to blame anybody or whatever, I just talk about things that I think are not that important in life actually.
“I say what I know about it, how I judge it or how I see it. I cannot change that. Nothing of the things that were made of it were my intention.”
