In the run-up to the first leg of the round of 16 of the Champions League in Anfield Road in between Liverpool y Real Madrid there was a tense moment at the local team’s press conference, and the technical director Jürgen Klopp He answered with height the question of a journalist who consulted him about the alleged provocations of the player vinicius juniorpermanent victim of Racist insults on the playing fields.
Jürgen Klopp does not rush with the return of Luis Díaz and will wait for the full recovery of the Colombian
The player could be back on Wednesday March 15 to visit Real Madrid in the second leg of the round of 16 of the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League
“You have faced Vinicius three times. I wanted to ask you: Have you noticed any provocative behavior on his part?”the journalist inquired. The German coach changed his face and the Liverpool press officer told him if he had understood the question. “Yes, I have understood the question,” he launched before expressing his reply.
“What is something provocative doing on the court? Things on the court, are you talking about racism? There is nothing in the world that can justify racism. I don’t know what he (Vinicius) does on the field, but my opinion is that he doesn’t provoke. Imagine that he says ‘yes’, that his way of playing can cause these situations. It would be crazy. No not at all. From what I know him, the only thing I can say is that he is a world-class player, ”said the German driver, considering the topic closed.
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The Brazilian soccer player from Real Madrid has been the target of racist insults by fans in La Liga in Spain and these discriminatory episodes have been the subject of criticism by his teammates towards the managers of the competition, who are demanding greater severity to punish offenders. In addition, the attacker of the Brazilian team had a doll with his shirt hanging from a bridge in the run-up to the Madrid derby.
On the other hand, regarding the transcendental clash against the team that has just won the Club World Cup and has been the executioner of the Reds in two Champions League finals (2022 and 2018), Klopp referred to the last final with the Merengue which was played last year at the Stade de France from Paris and the Spanish team won 1-0 with a goal from Vinicius.
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“We recently played that final, in Paris, and I hadn’t seen it since, until this weekend,” he admitted. “And I immediately understood why I hadn’t seen it. It was a real ordeal, because we played a good game and we could have won it, but they scored the decisive goal and we didn’t”he explained with a smile on his face.
With five titles in the last nine editions of the Champions League for Real Madrid and three finals in five years for Liverpool, the coach analyzed: “We have the impression that one of the two teams is always in the final in recent years, so we will see who will qualify.”
As a reflection, the 55-year-old German asked the local fans: “Real Madrid fans who come here must be received in the best way, walk around the city, go to the pubs, that kind of thing… Enjoy your way through here and go to one of the most historic places in world football. And then, two very high-level teams will face each other”.
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