Jürgen Klopp has rejected claims his comments on the financial power of Gulf state-owned clubs were xenophobic or fuelled tensions between Liverpool and Manchester City on Sunday, insisting he would “hate” himself if he were prejudiced in any way.
The Liverpool manager, who has been charged with improper conduct by the Football Association over his red card at Anfield, was drawn into the acrimonious fallout from his team’s 1-0 win by an anonymous briefing linked to City. Klopp was accused – with pre‑match comments about Liverpool being unable to compete with three clubs who can “do what they want” financially – of inflaming tensions around a game in which coins were thrown at Pep Guardiola, City fans scrawled graffiti and chanted in relation to the Hillsborough and Heysel disasters, and the visiting team coach was damaged after it left Anfield.
