Ramos takes no blame for challenge that hurt Salah.
Jurgen Klopp has claimed Sergio Ramos put Mohamed Salah ‘down like a wrestler’ as Liverpool’s manager finally broke his silence on the Champions League final.
Speaking for the first time in detail about the pain Liverpool suffered 63 days ago, Klopp has given a wide-ranging interview ahead of the new season in which he criticises Ramos’s behaviour and calls him ‘ruthless’; goes into detail about the concussion goalkeeper Loris Karius suffered and explains why he would have broken the world record for new No 1 Alisson Becker even if Liverpool had beaten Real Madrid in Kiev; laughs off Jose Mourinho’s attempts to get him to engage in mind games.
Recounting what happened on the night Liverpool lost 3-1, Klopp — whose side face Manchester United here on Saturday — said: ‘I’m not sure if it is an experience we will have again. Go there and put an elbow to the goalkeeper, put their goalscorer down like a wrestler in midfield and then you win.’
‘I watched that back, of course,’ said Klopp. ‘Someone showed it to me immediately after the game. But if you watch it back and you are not with Real Madrid then you think it is ruthless and brutal. You don’t think, “Wow! Good challenge”. It was ruthless.
‘I don’t think Mo would have always got injured in that situation, this time it was unlucky. But it is an experience we cannot have. I’m not sure if it is an experience we will have again. Go there and put an elbow to the goalkeeper, put their goalscorer down like a wrestler in midfield and then you win.
‘That was the story. Ramos said a lot of things I didn’t like. As a person, I didn’t like his reactions. He was like, “Whatever! What do they want? It’s normal!” No. It isn’t normal. If VAR is coming this is a situation where you have to look again, not to give a red card, but to say, “What is that?”