“He is not in a bad mood. That’s it.”
Jurgen Klopp has reacted to Mohammad Salah’s apologetic social media post, where the striker told the fans that he was sorry for not securing Champions League football.
Liverpool will finish in fifth place, while Manchester United, Newcastle, Arsenal and Manchester City occupy the top four spaces.
This means that the Reds will have to play in the Europa League, something which has become alien to the Anfield faithful who became accustomed to competing for Europe’s top trophy.
When United secured their spot and eliminated any chance of Liverpool getting fourth, Salah took to social media to apologise to the fans.
“We had everything we needed to make it to next year’s Champions League and we failed,” said Salah, who was part of the Liverpool team that won the tournament in 2018-19 and lost last year’s final to Real Madrid.
“We are Liverpool and qualifying to the competition is the bare minimum. I am sorry but it’s too soon for an uplifting or optimistic post.”
Klopp was asked about the post in the press conference leading up his team’s final game against Southampton.
“I’ve heard it,” said the Reds boss of Salah’s social media post. “Of course the moment when it is a fact you cannot qualify for the Champions League anymore… even when I knew after the last game they (Newcastle and United) need only one point, for me it was clear they would get that point”, said the Liverpool boss.
I’m totally devastated. There’s absolutely no excuse for this. We had everything we needed to make it to next year’s Champions League and we failed. We are Liverpool and qualifying to the competition is the bare minimum. I am sorry but it’s too soon for an uplifting or optimistic… pic.twitter.com/qZmA9WsueM
— Mohamed Salah (@MoSalah) May 25, 2023
“So I drew kind of a line underneath it. I’m a very optimistic person but in this moment I couldn’t see it. It is completely normal (about Salah comment).
“In the world of social media so many bad things happen constantly and I don’t think that was one of them. It was a just a normal description of his situation, of his feeling, and in that moment directly after the game he’s right, it’s not the moment to immediately any send optimistic messages but maybe an hour or a day later.
“But I saw him now in the canteen and he was smiling. I don’t know for which reason as I didn’t ask him, but he is not in a bad mood. That’s it.
“I find a lot of reasons for optimism. But I understand directly after the game when it was decided, that’s the moment you feel it. And for me it was no different to Mo. Even though I may have hoped a little bit less than him, but that’s absolutely fine.”
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