Note to reporters: Don’t ask Jürgen Klopp about the coronavirus anymore.
The last time the Liverpool manager was asked about his players potentially being exposed to the coronavirus, he went off on a rant about all the reasons he shouldn’t be asked about it. He made it clear that he was not an expert on the virus and that he thought it really didn’t matter what he thought.
So, of course, when he was asked about it again on Tuesday ahead of a Champions League game against Atletico Madrid, he had another rant ready to go.
A reporter asked Klopp if he was afraid that his players could potentially be exposed to the virus by playing, and Klopp sounded off.
“Playing football, it’s just a game. We are not the society — we are part of the society and we should all be worried in the same time. And that’s exactly the thing I don’t like, that you sit here and ask me this question but fly from Madrid to here…We play football. That’s our part, what we have to do. Your job is to transport information and I hope you do it better than you ask questions, to be honest. Because that’s the moment where I really get angry. When you give me the feeling I have a problem that you don’t have. We all have the same problem.”
That’s a fair point from Klopp. He’s just a guy doing his job, at the end of the day. It’s not his call to determine whether Liverpool should play games or not — he just manages the team. Just like it’s the reporter’s job to follow the team and ask questions including that one.
It’s a tough situation for everyone to be in. No idea how it should be handled, honestly.
I do know one thing, though — it’ll probably be a while before anyone asks Klopp if he’s worried about Coronavirus again.
