Jurgen Klopp slams UEFA over congested fixture list amid Liverpool injury crisis
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has once again attacked UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin over the footballers’ heavy workload due to the hectic fixture schedule.
The senior UEFA official previously said in a direct response to criticism from Klopp and Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola that wages would fall if there were fewer games.
Ceferin also stated that “those who should be complaining are the €1,000-a-month workers in the factories,” and Klopp has now continued his war of words amid an ongoing injury crisis at Anfield.
MORE: Updated list of Premier League top scorers for 2022/23 season
How did Klopp react to UEFA President Ceferin?
“I know what work means,” said Klopp in an interview with the German magazine “Kicker”. “I don’t want to offend anyone, just to point out again that this game doesn’t work without the players and is only really nice when the best are on the pitch.”
“Aleksander Ceferin comes out of the corner and makes a polemical statement that other people have to work a lot more. I know that, Mr. Ceferin doesn’t have to tell me that.”
Klopp insisted too many stakeholders are working to stage additional tournaments without concern for the players’ physical well-being.
“Everybody pull [new tournaments], nobody thinks about the players,” he added. “None. New tournaments are constantly being invented. Now we’re making the World Cup bigger so that other teams can take part. We’re also making the European Championships bigger, great!
“A sensible solution has to be found. It does not consist in constantly inventing and expanding new competitions. This is madness.
“I’m well aware that I’m making an extremely good living from the whole story. I have enough vacation. The players don’t have that. We have to change that at some point.”
How many players are Liverpool missing through injury?
Liverpool meet Crystal Palace in their second game of the 2022-23 Premier League season on Monday night and Klopp has eight players on the injury table.
The Reds suffered a disappointing 2-2 draw with Fulham in their opening game at Craven Cottage. Thiago Alcantara and Joel Matip both started this competition but the former had to be withdrawn with a hamstring problem and the latter picked up a groin problem before clashing with the Eagles.
Thiago is expected to be out for at least three weeks after Klopp said of his injury after the Fulham game: “Obviously it’s not good. It looks pretty bad. He didn’t look too happy.”
The Reds are also without Diogo Jota due to a hamstring problem, while Ibrahima Konate, Curtis Jones, Calvin Ramsay, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Caoimhin Kelleher are all long-term absent.
However, Konstantinos Tsimikas could be back in the squad after taking part in training on Sunday.
Premier League 2022/23 TV Channels, Live Streams
| United Kingdom | United States of America | Canada | Australia | |
| TV channel | Sky Sports, BT Sport | USA Network, Telemundo, Universo | — | — |
| stream | NOW TV, Sky Go, Amazon Prime | fuboTV, peacock | [INSERT MATCH-SPECIFIC LINK FROM FUBO TRACKER SHEET HERE] fuboTV | Optus Sport |
UNITED KINGDOM: Matches will be broadcast across the Sky Sports and BT Sport streaming and TV platforms, with select matches on Amazon Prime.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Select matches will be televised on USA Network (English) and Telemundo or Universo (Spanish), and all three channels are available to stream on fuboTV. The remaining games will be streamed for subscribers on NBC’s Peacock platform.
Canada: Every Premier League match is streamed live and on demand exclusively via fuboTV.
Australia: Fans in Australia can stream matches live and on-demand on Optus Sport.