Jurgen Klopp told to ‘pull Liverpool out of the Champions League’ after latest controversy – expert
Danny Mills has told Jurgen Klopp to pull Liverpool out of the Champions League if he is unhappy about his side’s schedule.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the ex-Leeds United and England defender claimed Klopp should rotate his squad more to combat their hectic fixture list.
As quoted by the Telegraph ahead of his side’s 2-1 win over Southampton on Tuesday (17 May), the 54-year-old questioned why the fixture was not scheduled for the Thursday evening following Liverpool’s FA Cup triumph after extra time and penalties last Saturday (14 May).
He made nine changes to his side at St. Mary’s and, as quoted by the Mail after the game, hailed his fringe players as “Ferraris in the garage”.
“Let’s be honest, Klopp was moaning about fixture congestion but part of the reason for that is they called off a fixture for covid when nobody had covid,” Mills told Football Insider correspondent Connor Whitley.
“It was proven that none of the players had covid and that’s one of the reasons they’ve had extra games.
“Now they’ve got the extra fixtures due to cup competitions. They’ve got themselves to blame as much as anything else because they didn’t do their testing right.
“If you’re moaning about Saturday-Tuesday, pull out the Champions League. If you’re in the Champions League and successful you know what it’s all about. That’s the norm.
“Teams in the Championship do that and if they have a cup run they play the extra games and deal with it.
“Be Arsenal and just play in the league if you like. If you’re that concerned don’t play in the cup competitions or the Champions League, just put your reserves out and see how they do.
“If you’ve got Ferraris in your garage what’s the problem? Why aren’t you driving them more?
“It’s a little bit of an excuse. Would you rather not be in these competitions at this stage of the season? You have a squad and it’s your job to rotate it.”
In other news, an ex-Uefa official has told the Premier League to hire Pierluigi Collina after a Liverpool controversy.