Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has issued a response to Mohamed Salah’s angry social media message following Manchester United’s victory over Chelsea on Thursday night. The result at Old Trafford confirmed that the Red Devils will finish the campaign in the Premier League’s top four, meaning that Liverpool will miss out on a place in next season’s Champions League in spite of their best efforts.
The Reds will instead be forced to settle for a spot in the Europa League group stages, with Newcastle United having also beaten Jurgen Klopp’s side to a top-four finish alongside newly-crowned champions Manchester City and runners-up Arsenal. Their failure to qualify for the Champions League sparked a furious response on Thursday night from Salah, who posted a strongly-worded tweet in which he expressed his fury at missing out on the chance to play in Europe’s premier club competition next season.
“I’m totally devastated,” wrote Salah. “There’s absolutely no excuse for this. We had everything we needed to make it to next year’s Champions League and we failed. We are Liverpool and qualifying to the competition is the bare minimum. I am sorry but it’s too soon for an uplifting or optimistic post. We let you and ourselves down.”
Klopp was then quizzed on his thoughts about Salah’s tweet in Friday’s press conference ahead of this weekend’s game against Southampton, with the 55-year-old telling reporters: “I am just worried about the headlines you create. Do me a favour and try your best. It’s a fact we don’t have Champions League, even I knew after last game, clear. I drew a line underneath it. I am optimistic but in that moment I couldn’t see it.
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“It is completely normal. In the world of social media so many bad things happen constantly and I don’t think that was one of them. It was a just a normal description of his feeling, and he’s right, but I saw him in the canteen an hour ago and he was smiling. He is not in a bad mood. That’s it.”
When asked if Liverpool’s other players are likely to share Salah’s frustrations after missing out on Champions League qualification, Klopp added: “We all think like that. This is not the season we wanted. I really think this is not a season we will talk about and we have failed to give the people more to enjoy, but we have given moments.
“The big disappointment is this little thing [Europa League], which is obviously a big one. It would have been a normal season if we finished fourth. Not great, but qualified. Sometimes you have to accept it. I’ve been here seven-and-a-half years, things are not always forward steps and sometimes there are dips. It’s good I’m here this long but you have to reinvent yourself.”
It remains to be seen whether the Reds will be able to end their campaign on a positive note with a win over already-relegated Southampton on Sunday afternoon, with the game now effectively a dead rubber following the discovery of Liverpool’s fate. They are guaranteed to finish the Premier League season in fifth place, with United four points clear of their Merseyside rivals and sixth-placed Brighton unable to catch them regardless of what happens on the final day.
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