“For me, the Champions League is the Super League”
Comments from Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp on a potential European Super League have resurfaced. It’s in the aftermath of the announcement on Sunday that the so-called ‘big six’ in the Premier League, including Liverpool, have signed up for a new European competition.
Speaking in 2019, Klopp was pretty clear in what his views were on any sort of new ring-fenced competition for Europe’s elite.
Klopp told German publication Kicker, per Liverpool Echo: “I hope this Super League will never happen.
“With the way the Champions League is now running, football has a great product, even with the Europa League.
“For me, the Champions League is the Super League, in which you do not always end up playing against the same teams.
“Of course, it is [financially] important, but why should we create a system where Liverpool faces Real Madrid for 10 straight years? Who wants to see that every year?”
Of course this was before the news on Sunday.
Currently, managers, players and staff from the clubs involved are yet to comment.
United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer refused to comment on the rumours after his side’s victory over Burnley, saying: “I am dealing with the news this afternoon, the speculation. I don’t think it is for me to comment on now. We just have to wait and see what happens.
Meanwhile Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers said that he would need to find out more about the proposals before commenting, after his side’s FA Cup semi-final 1-0 victory against Southampton on Sunday.
The likes of Klopp will know that no matter what their personal beliefs on the proposed new competition, if they speak their mind they are likely to suffer as a result. They will be trying to walk a precarious tightrope for the next few days.
However this is an issue that they just can’t afford to stay silent on. The only way these plans get torpedoed is if the senior figures at the club, the players whose names are on the shirt, the manager who picks the side, the figures that actually are involved with the fans, speak out against this.
Clearly the voice of the fans isn’t enough to stop this. It is crystal clear that the owners and investment firms behind this do not care about the fans. But they might care if their assets, the likes of Harry Kane, Jurgen Klopp, Mohamed Salah, Marcus Rashford, came out and voiced their concern.
So let’s wait and see what Klopp says now. And whether him and other managers actually care about the clubs they are a part of.
Or whether, when it comes down to it, money talks.
