Jurgen Klopp defends his comments on Man City, despite being dubbed ‘borderline xenophobic’

Jurgen Klopp has defended his controversial comments about the spending of clubs including Manchester City after his remarks were heavily criticised by the Premier League champions.

Liverpool beat Manchester City 1-0 on Sunday after a difficult start to the season in a game marred by a number of unsavoury incidents.

Man City alleged that their team bus was targeted by the Reds fans, Pep Guardiola had coins thrown at him, while charity Ref Support UK have called for a probe into touchline behaviour following Klopp’s red card.

Klopp, speaking at his pre-match press conference ahead of Liverpool’s game with West Ham on Wednesday, claimed his ‘borderline xenophobic’ comments were “misunderstood” and wants to avoid further “misinterpretation” that comes with the “non-native” territory.

The German insisted he thought he had put his opinion into ‘perspective’ when he said City were a club that could ‘do what they want financially’ because of their ownership model.

‘We don’t have to be best friends with other clubs but people don’t want to be friends with us,’ he said.

‘It started with the question and I answered it. I know what I thought when I said it and I’ve put it in perspective and said I respect what they’re doing. It was still not right for some but the most important thing as a club with our fans – we showed an incredible performance on Sunday.

‘I know what I thought when I said it, if someone misunderstands that I cannot change that. I have to be careful. I know I’m not always careful, I just answer and say what I think.

‘I try to do that in the future as well. Usually it’s never my aim to blame anybody I just talk about things. I say what I know about it or judge how I see it. Nothing of the things that were made of were my intention.’