2022 Champions League runner-up Liverpool, are all but certain to compete in the Europa League next season. “Frustrating,” says Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp, missing out on a ticket. Yet he also does not turn his nose up at the Europa League.
Klopp happy and proud of Europa League ticket: “I’m not spoiled”
An impressive run of results put Liverpool agonizingly close to the top four in the Premier League, but the draw against Aston Villa has made that mission all but impossible. Liverpool can only enter the Champions League if Newcastle or Manchester United lose their last two Premier League matches.
Klopp no longer counts on that. “It’s frustrating,” he says after the 1-1 against Villa at Sky Sports. “We made it a serious fight for the Champions League tickets. But our competitors got more points. We had hoped to keep the battle exciting for another week, but we didn’t manage to do that,” concludes the German manager.
“And so we will make the Europa League our competition. I’m not spoiled. That we are already qualified for the Europa League is incredible, if you look at the teams around us. That is a very tough task and we managed to do it. For a long time we didn’t even know what the Champions League anthem sounded like, we were that far away,” Klopp recalled. “The Europa League is totally fine, let’s see what we can achieve there.”
Gakpo victim of poor decision
For Cody Gakpo, Liverpool’s draw against Aston Villa on Saturday was painful for several reasons. Because of the costly loss of points, but certainly also because of the serious foul by Tyrone Mings that he had to deal with.
Shortly before the break, Mings unhappily planted his studs in Gakpo’s chest. Referee John Brooks deemed a yellow card enough. The VAR still looks at it, but also decides not to intervene.
Liverpool coach Jürgen Klopp could not understand this afterwards. He referred to the large welts on Gakpo’s chest. “You can’t get that from a decent offense,” said the manager.
“It was a tough collision, but the referee decided to give yellow. Then you have to go through again. You accept it and continue playing,” Gakpo himself looks back at Astro Super Sport. “It was painful. I hoped it was nothing serious and that I could move on. Luckily I was okay.”
