Jurgen Klopp’s dreams to win his final FA Cup as Liverpool manager were brutally dashed at Old Trafford.
He saw his side surrender their lead twice to fall to a 4-3 loss to Manchester United, ending any hopes of a quadruple.
Klopp was agitated after the game and ended up in controversy for a seemingly offensive remark at a Danish reporter.
To his credit, the German gaffer did not lose his temper and was quite respectful towards Erik ten Hag & co after the bitter loss.
Lady Luck didn’t really favour his side at all at Old Trafford and Klopp might’ve been frustrated with how the game ended. He credited Manchester United for the way they showed resolve and won the game, even congratulating their effort.
But what ended up going viral was a small snippet of an incident between him and a TV journalist in a post-match interview.
These interviews are often mandatory for coaches, but Jurgen appeared to have been annoyed at the matter of the questions laid at him.
What Did Jurgen Klopp Say to Viaplay Reporter?
Following the match, Klopp decided to give a short interview to V Sport. This is a Nordic sports broadcaster group that is owned by the Viaplay Group.
Jurgen seemingly became tired of the repetitive questions that the interviewer for V Sport, Niels Frederiksen, threw at him.
At one point, the person asked him why Liverpool’s intensity levels dropped in extra-time – when Manchester United won the game.
He replied: “That’s a bit of a dumb question, I have to say, if you see us often. If you never see us then you can ask ‘how can they have more resources?’.
“We played I don’t know how many games recently, I don’t know how many games United exactly have played. That’s sport. I’m really disappointed by that question, but you thought the opposite so that’s good.”
Exactly after that, Frederiksen seemingly tried asking the Liverpool gaffer if playing ‘too many games’ resulted in this performance.
Klopp seemingly had enough and replied: “Oh, you don’t think that? Ah, come on, you’re obviously not in good shape and I have no nerves for you.”
He then stormed out of the interview, leaving the interviewer rather bewildered. However, his parting words have since gone viral on social media – with most fans taking it as fat-shaming.
Did Jurgen Klopp Really Fat-Shame The Reporter?
Football fans have hit out at Klopp for trying to insinuate that Niels was too chubby/overweight and hence has no idea about the extreme demands of top-level football.
But let’s take the broader context in order.
For one, Jurgen never uses the word fat or anything related like ‘overweight’ or ‘chubby’. In fact, a logical argument would indicate that he did not make the remark at the person’s appearance or personality.
In this situation, the words ‘you’re obviously not in good shape’ is directed towards the journalist’s footballing knowledge than his weight.
He seems to insinuate that the journalist doesn’t have any idea about the broader fitness of the Liverpool players to make a judgement on their lack of intensity or anything like that.
As a matter of fact, a number of people have come to Klopp’s aid here. Even Sam Lee, The Athletic’s Manchester City correspondent, made it clear that Jurgen did not mean to call him fat.
Lee is a good judge in this situation knowing how he’s covering the Cityzens for years. He’s attended hundreds of press conferences, taken interviews and has enough knowledge to realize when or when a manager intends to insult a journalist.
On top of that, the individual that the Liverpool gaffer was talking to here is not even overweight or fat. The journalist appears to be in a pretty normal shape so there is no reason why Klopp would take a dig at his body shape.
While Jurgen was offended by the questions from the interviewer and did lose his temper, he certainly didn’t make a personal remark in this case.
Despite this setback, the german will be focused on guiding the Reds to a strong finish to the season and perhaps clinch the Premier League and Europa League titles to end his chapter with a Treble (instead of a Quadruple) now.
