Jurgen Klopp has once again slammed the UEFA Nations League as he believes there is too much football at international level.
Klopp described the new competition as “senseless” prior to the recent international break and took the opportunity to air his opinion at a news conference on Friday afternoon.
Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita all handed the Liverpool manager injury scares in the last week when they were away with their respective national teams, although only Netherlands defender Van Dijk played in the Nations League.
“You make a lot of my comments about the Nations League,” Klopp said. “And everyone has their opinion about it, but the things they say about it are exactly what I think — it’s too much in that competition: ‘Proper games, real opponents, it is better than having any friendlies’.
“That’s all good but you don’t want to see [heavyweight boxer Anthony] Joshua fighting every second night, it’s not possible. This week he fights in Leeds, next week he fights in Manchester and no one asked for it.
“In American Football you have the summer break which is longer than our season — it’s not that long, but it’s a real proper break. In basketball they have a summer league, whatever it is, and then come together.
“Only [in] football everyone seems to be interested in now having only big competitions where you can get promoted or relegated. Or when Wales play Ireland they play for something and the atmosphere in the stadium is different.
“Do we want to have opera every night or every two months? I like competition, of course, but at one point someone has to step back and think: ‘OK, wait, wait, wait. They are players who play’. If they don’t perform I am angry, so how can we make sure they perform?
“That’s all I wanted to say. The Nations League itself is a good idea, [but] do it in another sport because in football there is no space for it.
“I realise already I could have told my coffee machine because no one is really interested, but it is still my opinion.
“We only have highlights now, ‘highlight, highlight, highlight’. Where is the rest? When can we have normal things? That is all I was talking about.”
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