Jürgen Klopp joked that a European Super League would mean fewer games and more money for the top clubs, as he reacted to the dramatic proposal after Liverpool’s 1-1 draw at Arsenal.
The German magazine Der Spiegel reported on Friday that five English clubs were among 11 so-called “founding members” for the new elite competition, which would start in 2021. The story, which arose from the latest Football Leaks revelations, claimed that Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and the Manchester clubs had been in negotiations about the new format, which would replace the Champions League.
Klopp denied any inside knowledge of the proposal and his tone was light-hearted when he was asked about it. “It sounds really nice because it sounds like much less games and much more money,” Klopp said. “I am completely fine with how the league football is at the moment. At least, it’s an idea that we don’t do immediately.
“I’m not even sure if somebody spoke about it, to be honest. It looks like all the other wonderful ideas of Fifa and Uefa – they do them immediately, they don’t ask. And then you see: ‘Oh, OK, we have 20 games more and not more money.’”
Liverpool remain unbeaten in the Premier League after what was a thriller at the Emirates and Klopp made the point that an away draw with Arsenal is “always a good result”. But it was slightly harder to take given that Alexandre Lacazette’s equaliser for Arsenal came in the 82nd minute, when Liverpool were in control, and when a first-half controversy was factored in.
Sadio Mané had the ball in the net after Roberto Firmino’s shot had come back off the woodwork in the 18th minute only for the goal to be disallowed for offside. Mané was onside on the second phase of the move when Firmino took his shot.
“I think it was a goal,”Klopp said. “Do I feel aggrieved? I don’t know. It is football. Actually, it was a brilliant attack. That is what you do on the training ground – you bring one player and you keep one player between the centre-halves slightly offside and the other player takes the ball. It is a pity it didn’t count.
“We had the biggest chances in the game. We had empty goals and we didn’t use it. If you want to win at Arsenal, you should use these kind of chances. I know they had chances as well but I think we had the bigger ones.”
Unai Emery said: “Out of this game and the ones against Manchester City and Chelsea at the start of the season, this performance was the more complete. We need this quality in every match.
“The result is a good result for how we did in 90 minutes, when we were losing. We deserved it because we could have lost, but we could also have won in the 90 minutes. It was a good test for us. We need more, in our work and tactically also. But the spirit is like we want.
“The progress takes time, a long time in football is very difficult to demand. It’s very important when you play against City, Chelsea, Liverpool and if you win it’s better.”