Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has responded to comments made by Manchester United legend Gary Neville regarding Chelsea’s performance in the EFL Cup final, deeming them unfair.
After Liverpool secured their 10th EFL Cup trophy with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Chelsea on Sunday, Klopp addressed Neville’s remarks. Neville had referred to Chelsea as “blue billion-pound bottlejobs” following the loss, suggesting they had failed to deliver under pressure.
However, Klopp expressed his discomfort with such criticism during a press conference (h/t Echo):
“I understand that people have to talk about it, but I was in the other seat as well, losing a final. People say a lot of things about you that you don’t like to hear. In my case, some of them were true, some were not true, just guessing what might have happened.”
Reflecting on his own experiences and eight trophy wins with Liverpool, Klopp empathized with Chelsea’s situation:
“I’m the one who knows what it’s like to lose five or six finals in a row. I can imagine how it was for Chelsea, everybody tells you: ‘By the way, you lost the last [six] and that’s a new record’. It’s not nice, and like I say, I really felt for them. They didn’t deserve to get all the blame… they played a really good game.”
Showing solidarity with Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino and his players, Klopp emphasized the emotional toll of losing a final:
“In a final where nobody plays their absolute best football, you just have to beat the opponent, and that’s what we did. That’s why this ‘bottling’ thing is really not mine. I really don’t understand it. They wanted it badly and didn’t get it, and I saw in the faces of the players and Poch after the game that it felt horrible.”
