Jurgen Klopp: Liverpool boss slates 'c**p kick-off time' to play Newcastle at the end of April amid fixture pile-up
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ByEurosport
Updated 14/04/2022 at 16:49 GMT
Liverpool take on Manchester City (FA Cup semi-final), Manchester United, Everton, Villarreal (Champions League first leg) and Newcastle all before the end of April. Jurgen Klopp is not happy that his side will have to play Newcastle at Saturday lunchtime on the 30th off the back of a gruelling schedule and believes it is a "c**p kick-off time". The Reds are still in the hunt for the quadruple.
'It's a massive difference' - Klopp slams fixture organisers for early kick-off
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has criticised the decision to plonk a lunchtime kick-off between his side's looming two-legged Champions League semi-final as the club's congested fixture schedule takes its toll.
The quadruple-chasing Reds have five more fixtures remaining in three competitions in April, with the Merseyside club still in contention to win the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League. They won the League Cup in February.
Liverpool beat Benfica 6-4 on aggregate to set up a clash with La Liga side Villarreal in the last four, but now face Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-finals less than three days later.
Klopp says he cannot understand why his side have to also play at Saturday lunchtime against Newcastle on April 30.
"I've just spoken to BT Sport and pointed out to them again that this is a c**p kick-off time," Klopp told DAZN Germany.
"We want to play all the games that are coming up - no problem at all. But it doesn't have to be that they let us play 12:30 on Saturdays and then see how it goes - for no reason. I will never understand that."
Liverpool drew 3-3 on the night with Klopp making seven changes to his side that beat the Portuguese club 3-1 in the first leg in Lisbon.
The German boss said he took responsibility for Liverpool not winning the game.
"I know we were 3-1 up, at the end it's 3-3, they also score two or three offside goals - of course that's anything but cool. But all the negative things that happened are my fault, my responsibility, because I changed seven times," he said.
"From my point of view, I had to do that. But then it's almost automatic that when you put together a completely new defence, that can feel a bit rusty at different moments. And on top of that, we were through with the 3-1.
"We don't have to pretend now that anyone still believed that the whole thing would still be close.
"They're still celebrating the result and you can see that they were here to have fun. They had fun - but we're still ahead and that's cool."
Liverpool's semi-final opponents Villarreal surprisingly knocked out Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich 2-1 on aggregate on Tuesday evening. Klopp says he will have a plan for Unai Emery's side.
"I think Villarreal definitely deserved to go through both rounds," he said.
"And whoever kicks out Bayern and Juventus deserves to be in the semi-finals. I know that Unai Emery is a bit of the king of cup competitions - it's incredible what he pulls off. They'll have a clear plan. And by the time we meet, we'll have one too.
"It's the best end-of-season run you can have because we only play so many times because we get so far in the different competitions."
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