“If you don’t know what to ask anymore, that’s no problem.”
Jurgen Klopp was settling into his press conference, in Naples, this evening and looked to be in fine form, until one “embarrassing question” got under his skin.
Liverpool are in Italy to take on Napoli in their first Champions League game of the season, and it is a familiar rivalry at this stage. This is the third time in five seasons the two clubs have been paired off against each other.
The Reds’ official fan services account has advised Liverpool supporters in the city to stay to their hotels, as much as possible, and warned fans against wearing club colours during their time in the city.
The press conference that saw Klopp praise the “handsome” Napoli boss Luciano Spalletti and confirm that while Thiago Alcantara is back training, Jordan Henderson is out of action for a few weeks. However, one question set him off, and turned the mood quickly:
The Italian reporter, Antonio Manzo, asked Jurgen Klopp ‘whether you consider the city [of Naples] to be dangerous’ because of several messages from a Liverpool account ‘telling fans to be wary of the city’.
“I’d like to know,” the reporter asked, “whether that has been your experience, and whether you would like to try calm the fans down or whether you consider it to be a welcoming city?”
The German’s face dropped, and he lashed into the reporter:
“That’s an embarrassing question from you. You want to create headlines. I really don’t understand it.
“You are from Napoli? Do you think it is a dangerous city?”
After explaining he only had the cloistered experience of travelling from training to hotels, to matches and back to hotels, Klopp added, “I’m not here to create headlines for you, and if you don’t know what to ask any more, that’s no problem. Because I would love to go back to the hotel, to be honest.”
"That's an embarrassing question from you!" 😳
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp reacts to a question from a journalist and says "I'm not here to create headlines" when asked about fan safety concerns in Naples🔴⤵️pic.twitter.com/FRugCxFkgp
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 6, 2022
The local reporter’s question came near the end of a long stretch of match-related questions, but Jurgen Klopp was not having any big headlines created about the city of Naples itself.
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