Speaking to the press after Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Porto in the Champions League on Wednesday, Jurgen Klopp was confronted by an African journalist about referring to the Africa Cup of Nations as “a little tournament”. The German coach was shocked that such a question arrived at a post-game presser, but he quickly recovered and proceeded to explain that his comment was taken out of context.Klopp calling AFCON ‘A little tournament in Africa’ doesn’t sit well with me. Sounds disrespectful pic.twitter.com/fEW2SrWXhI— Ole Teya (@Kevin_teya) November 23, 2021 Speaking about national call-ups and absent players, Klopp said that there weren’t going to be any international breaks until March 2022, but that there is “that small tournament in January”. When confronted about it, the German repeated multiple times that he didn’t mean it as an insult to the AFCON nor Africa as a continent. “I didn’t mean it like that, come on. So I was not even close to it being the idea in my mind that I want to talk about the African Cup of Nations as a “little tournament” or the continent of Africa as a little continent, not at all. I said ‘oh there’s a little tournament in January’ and I didn’t mean a little tournament, I was just saying it’s still a tournament – it’s ironic.”Saturday, 18.00: (1.32) Liverpool (5.90) Southampton (10.0)The clearly aggrieved journalist made the point that Klopp wouldn’t refer to a European Championship as a “little tournament in Europe”, but the former Borussia Dortmund manager ended the discussion by remarking that him not being a native English speaker might have been the cause for the misunderstanding. And he questioned the journo’s attitude in trying to imply that he was being disrespectful.”I know that I would never think like this. I don’t understand why you thought this. I would never do that. It was not my intention but you made something more of it, so that is not so cool to be 100 per cent honest.”📺 Jurgen Klopp when asked about calling AFCON a “little tournament” last week:”I didn’t mean it like that! I don’t know why you understand it like that. Come on…” 🔴 pic.twitter.com/pcLsaYEMPi— Anfield Watch (@AnfieldWatch) November 24, 2021 The Africa Cup of Nations will be held in Cameroon and kicks off on January 9, with the final to be held on February 6, and Klopp is set to lose Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita to international duty.
