Section:GDN 1N PaGe:48 Edition Date:190829 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 28/8/2019 21:57 cYanmaGentaYellowb
- The Guardian Thursday 29 Aug ust 2019
(^48) Sport
Football
Klopp: rivals’ class will
stall English dominance
Richard Jolly
reward for reaching the Champions
League fi nal is to be in pot two, along
with clubs including Real and Atlético
Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and
Napoli. Antonio Conte’s ambitiously
remodelled Inter nazionale, Bayer
(^) Leverkusen and Valencia are in pot
three and RB Leipzig in pot four.
Klopp said: “I don’t think there was
ever a stronger pot two. It is just crazy.
They should all be in pot one, but there
is not enough space there. I don’t think
there was ever a stronger pot three. If
people really think about this kind of
Super League, then you don’t need it.
That’s it. ”
Of the potential competition for
the trophy, Klopp said: “Look at the
squad Borussia Dortmund has and
tell me we are stronger than them.
That is incredible. They can make fi ve
changes and you think: ‘Really, they
didn’t play last week? Why?’ There are
a lot of quality teams: Juventus will be
there, PSG will be there. Real Madrid?
Do you think they gave up already?
Bayern Munich now fi nally brought in
[Ivan] Perisic and [Philippe] Coutinho
which is a big boost.”
Premier League clubs made history
last season when, for the fi rst time, one
country supplied all four European
finalists, but Klopp felt fortune
favoured them in the semi-fi nals,
citing a chance Ousmane Dembélé
had to put Barcelona 4-0 up against
Liverpool at the Camp Nou.
He said: “Last year we deserved it
against Barcelona but we were lucky
as well. Tottenham were lucky against
Ajax. We needed Dembélé to shoot
the ball somewhere [except into the
goal] in the fi rst game at Barcelona.
You need luck in the right moments.”
The Champions League draw takes
place at 5pm today, with 32 teams
placed into eight groups of four
Pot 1 Liverpool, Chelsea, Barcelona,
B Munich, Juventus, Manchester City,
Paris Saint-Germain, Zenit St Petersburg
Pot 2 Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid, Borussia
Dortmund, Napoli, Shakhtar Donetsk,
Tottenham, Ajax, Benfica
Pot 3 Lyon, Bayer Leverkusen, RB Salzburg,
Olympiakos, Club Brugge, Valencia,
Internazionale, Dinamo Zagreb
Pot 4 Lokomotiv Moscow, Genk, Galatasaray,
RB Leipzig, Slavia Prague, Red Star Belgrade,
Atalanta, Lille
Live BT Sport 2 Liveblog guardian.co.uk
Today’s draw
Jürgen Klopp has cast doubt on
Liverpool’s chances of retaining the
Champions League and said another
season of English domination was
unlikely because the competition has
never been stronger.
The manager believes there is no
need for a European Super League
because the Champions League is
already one in eff ect and he expects
Liverpool to be drawn to day in a group
with one of the continent’s top teams
because so many high-class sides are
only second seeds.
Klopp has led Liverpool to back-to-
back Champions League fi nals but he
is adamant that does not make them
favourites despite his side winning last
season’s all-Premier League fi nal.
“I will have no problem with it
[reaching the fi nal] if it happens again,
but at this moment I am not too sure
it will ,” he said. “We have the same
chance like everyone else, but that
is all, and I don’t see us, the English
teams, dominating. I really think a lot
of teams have a good chance.”
Whereas Liverpool, as European
champions, the Europa League win-
ners Chelsea and Manchester City, as
a result of lifting the Premier League,
are in the top eight seeds, Tottenham’s
Duncan agent
accuses
Liverpool
of ‘mentally
bullying’ player
Andy Hunter
Liverpool have been accused of “men-
tally bullying” Bobby Duncan by rep-
resentatives of the 18-year-old and
holding the player against his will after
rejecting two loan off ers for the striker.
Saif Rubie, Duncan’s agent, issued
an extraordinary statement on Twitter
yesterday that claimed the boyhood
Liverpool fan has not left his house for
four days because of stress and will not
return to the club. It also condemns
Liverpool’s sporting director, Michael
Edwards, claiming he refus ed to allow
the striker – a cousin of Steven Gerrard
- to join Fiorentina or Nordsjælland
on loan.
Liverpool insist the allegations are
unfounded and that the statement is
littered with inaccuracies. The club has
not ruled out taking legal action over
what it considers to be defamatory
claims against itself and Edwards.
Rubie’s outburst followed Liver-
pool’s rejection of a loan move to
Fiorentina for Duncan. The teenager,
who joined Liverpool from Manches-
ter City in August 2018 , played for Jür-
gen Klopp’s team during pr e-season.
The statement released by Rubie
alleged: “A few months ago before
the end of last season, Bobby had
meetings with the club’s hierarchy
including academy director Alex
Inglethorpe. It was recognised that
Bobby wasn’t happy at Liverpool for
diff erent reasons and Alex invited us
to bring off ers to the club for the exit
of Bobby Duncan.
“For a player with zero fi rst-team
experience, no clubs were prepared
to pay an outright reasonable [sic] fee
for a player they got for £200,000 last
summer. With that in mind we have
been able to fi nd clubs that were ready
to take Bobby on a season-long loan
with an option to buy for amounts of
£1.5m upwards which is a great return
for the club on a player who will never
play for the Liverpool fi rst team and
who doesn’t want to be there.
“The club and Michael Edwards
specifi cally made it clear that that kind
of deal wouldn’t work. So then myself
and my team worked even harder and
managed to get a deal on the table for
a loan with an obligation to buy after
fi ve starts with a higher transfer fee
than before and a sell-on to Liverpool.”
It added: “The real reason Bobby
missed the under-23 game [against
Southampton ] on Monday is because
he has suff ered some deep mental
health issues with all the stress the
club has put him under. Stress of being
told he can leave but then going out of
their way to force him to stay against
his will. Not only is he on a very small
salary but he also has one season left
on his contract after this one and Liv-
erpool have fl atly said he will not get
a new one.
“Bobby has not left his room for four
days because of this and will never go
back to Liverpool again and my only
concern now is his mental health and
well being ... It’s a sad state of aff airs
that a club such as Liverpool can be
allowed to get away with mentally bul-
lying and destroying the life of a young
man such as Bobby.”
Liverpool regard Duncan highly and
believe the striker can continue to pro-
gress with the under-23s this season.
A spokesperson for the club said:
“Liverpool football club is aware of and
disappointed by the unattributed [sic]
comments and unfounded allegations
... regarding one of our players. As the
interests of the player in question are
not best served by either inaccurate
speculation, infl ammatory statements
or public discourse, we will be making
no further comment. We will, how-
ever, continue our eff orts ... to fi nd
resolution in the best interests of all
involved.”▼ Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool
will enter the draw as one
of the top seedsTOBY MELVILLE/REUTERSDuncan, a cousin of
Steven Gerrard, joined
Liverpool in August 2018RELEASED BY "What's News" vk.com/wsnws TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws