Football Espana
·31 Oktober 2024
Football Espana
·31 Oktober 2024
Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp did manage to win a Champions League while in charge at Anfield, but was on the end of three final defeats, two of which to Real Madrid. The first was highly controversial, while the second saw Liverpool enjoy a significant amount of chances, but were beaten by a single Vinicius Junior goal.
The former saw Real Madrid run out 3-1 winners over Liverpool, and in particular, Sergio Ramos was criticised for bringing down Mohamed Salah in an arm lock. The Egyptian was forced off, i an incident that turned the game, and then saw two major errors from goalkeeper Loris Karius.
Speaking on Einfach mal Luppen, Toni Kroos’ podcast, Klopp made it clear he was yet to forgive the former Real Madrid captain.
“If you see him again and you’re not from Real Madrid you think he’s ruthless and brutal. If you put together all of Ramos’ actions, and I’ve watched football since I was five years old, you’ll see that a lot of things happen with Ramos. I think in a situation like Ramos with Salah someone needs to judge it better. With VAR it is a situation that you have to look at again… I don’t think Mo would have always gotten hurt in that situation. This time he was unlucky. I don’t know if it will be something that we will see again: elbowing the goalkeeper, knocking down an opponent like a wrestler in the center of the field and then winning the game,” Marca quote.
Kroos admits that he has done some things that he isn’t a fan of too.
“Is Mr. Sergio Ramos really a good guy? He is not my favourite player. The action was brutal. Of course, he can’t know it’s going to hurt his shoulder, but we all know he accepted it very happily. I could never understand that mentality, I never had players like that and, when I did, I made sure they left.”
“Sergio is a good teammate,” Kroos assures Klopp, but the RB Leipzig global director struggles to believe him.
“It’s hard for me to believe. He won’t be my favourite player, but it doesn’t matter,” he noted, and at no point did he desire to have Ramos in his team.
“I always thought my centre-backs were good enough not to be involved in actions like that.”
Ramos became persona non grata for Liverpool fans, and while he naturally maintains plenty of affection in Spain, few who have watched him over the years will be surprised by Klopp’s words. Spain’s most capped player, Ramos always maintained a win at all costs attitude, and was not afraid to use more physical play if necessary. The most sent off player in La Liga history, Ramos had a penchant for violent challenges when his temper had gone too.