Ex-Fifa official calls for Premier League intervention after ‘unbelievable’ Liverpool news
Keith Hackett has called on the Premier League to help Liverpool and rearrange their game with Newcastle United later this month (30 April).
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the ex-Fifa and Premier League referee claimed the current schedule will be a “big concern” for the players.
Liverpool host Villareal in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final on Wednesday 27 April and travel to Newcastle at 12:30 pm live on BT Sport just three days later.
They then travel to Villareal in the second leg the following Tuesday (3 May).
As quoted by the Guardian last week, Jurgen Klopp insisted that the current schedule makes his side’s task “unbelievably difficult”.
“This happens every season, successful teams have this congestion of fixtures,” Hackett told Football Insider correspondent Connor Whitley.
“The big concern for players at this level is that when they are fatigued and don’t have sufficient recovery time, they are at risk of pick up injuries and that impacts the team and the whole season.
“I’ve always said it and I believe that across Europe the leagues look after their teams in European competitions much better than we do.
“There needs to be a bit of common sense. Ok, there are TV schedules that make it not easy but logically they need to look at any improvements to help the English clubs in Europe.”
Liverpool’s win against Man City on Sunday (17 April) means they are in the hunt for a historic quadruple.
Having already won the EFL Cup, they are just two points behind City in the Premier League and are in the Champions League semi-final and FA Cup final.
In other news, there has been a ‘huge’ FSG update on Sadio Mane’s Liverpool future.