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Jürgen Klopp interrupts irritated journalist: ‘Stop, stop, stop’

Thursday, November 25, 2021 at 4:16 PM
• Jordi Tomasowa • Last update: 16:16

Jürgen Klopp had a slight altercation with a journalist on Wednesday evening after the Champions League match against FC Porto (2-0), who was irritated about an earlier statement by the German coach. Klopp called the Africa Cup a “small tournament” last Saturday when he indicated that there would still be an international break for March. That statement could count on little sympathy from journalist Ojora Babatunde van OJB Sports.

Klopp has not apologized for his recent comments about the Africa Cup of Nations. Instead, he got into a light altercation with an angry reporter on Wednesday night. The Liverpool manager was addressed after his team’s victory against Porto about what he said on Saturday after the Premier League game against Arsenal (4-0) was won. Klopp then called the Africa Cup a “small tournament” when he spoke of the international interruptions.

De journalist, Babatunde van OJB Sports, Klopp immediately confronted the comments made earlier. “During your last press conference you deliberately called the Africa Cup a ‘small tournament’. I think it is an insult to the players, an insult to the fans, an insult to the people of the continent and I think you owe the continent an apology,” the journalist said. A stunned Klopp tried to interrupt Babatunde. “Stop, stop, stop, that’s not what I meant. I didn’t mean it like that, I don’t know why you take it that way to be honest…”, said the German trainer.

The journalist then interrupted Klopp again. “That was what you said, I listened to the press conference and you said that the continent in Africa is little.” Klopp then defended his comments. “I didn’t mean it like that, come on. It didn’t even occur to me that I wanted to talk about the Africa Cup as a ‘small tournament’ or about Africa, which is a small continent, not at all. If you had the whole press conference you might have understood correctly, what I meant was that there are now no more international interruptions until March.”

“I said, ‘Oh, there’s a small tournament in January,’ and I didn’t mean a small tournament, I just said it’s a tournament. It was meant ironically. It’s still a tournament, a big tournament. We have to give up our best players…” Because of the Africa Cup, Liverpool will probably have to do without Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mané and Naby Keita.The final tournament will be held from January 6 to February 9.


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