Has Jurgen Klopp been had?
Liverpool Football Club and Manchester United. You can love or hate either side, and question their respective title-challenging credentials, but few can deny that any game between these two behemoths is a true occasion in sport. Half the world stops to focus in on the drama.
It is up there with Real Madrid vs Barcelona, Boca Juniors vs River Plate, and Burnley vs Blackburn Rovers for world renown.
Granted, they may not always be the most aesthetically pleasing of encounters, and quite often the fierce rivalry can spill over into genuine nastiness. But there is always far more than three points at stake when Liver bird takes on Red Devil. It’s about civic pride as much as anything.
However there’s an intriguing sub-plot to Monday’s game at Anfield. A conspiracy theory is doing that rounds (and by rounds we essentially mean Twitter) that Daley Blind’s dad has done his kid a huge favour by exacerbating at injury to a vital Liverpool charge.
Georginio Wijnaldum was already unfit before the Netherland’s World Cup qualifying defeat to France, and yet the national manager – and Daley’s dad – Danny Blind played him anyway. Wijnaldum limped off after the hour mark and is now very doubtful for the United game.
Many Liverpool fans are furious that their player is now crocked and blame his hamstring injury on the Blind connection. Some are even suggesting that it was wilful skullduggery to sideline a player who has been integral to the Merseyside club’s excellent recent form.
Whether their claims are justified or not, it will certainly add a little extra spice to a rivalry that hardly requires it…
https://twitter.com/GhaithD5/status/786560020548837376
So Blind knew Wijnaldum was injured before their game but played him anyway?
— the Camera guy (@kamogelo84) October 13, 2016
https://twitter.com/timbolton1/status/785865647628623872
https://twitter.com/LFC_Idols/status/786558360082526209
https://twitter.com/MikLFC/status/785939738373058560
