Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp defended Neymar’s play-acting at the World Cup and believes it will be impossible to completely snuff out the Brazilian’s threat when Paris Saint-Germain visit Anfield in the Champions League today. Klopp insisted Neymar wasn’t fully fit in Russia after breaking a bone in his foot in February that forced him to miss the rest of the club season with the French giants before the World Cup. However, the world’s most expensive player earned few plaudits for his performances and became a figure of fun for his constant feigning of injury as Brazil crashed out at the quarter-finals to Belgium.
“When I saw a few games at the World Cup and I know people are talking about that and it looked like he made a bit more of situations. But it’s a normal reaction because players are going for him, that’s the truth, and he wants to protect himself. I understand that,” said Klopp yesterday.
“I’m not sure it’s possible to avoid his quality 100%. He’s a fantastic footballer, outstanding. He was not fit at the World Cup and he tried to take the responsibility for his country. Belgium played an outstanding game against Brazil, but if Neymar is fit, Brazil wins it. That’s how it is.
“He was injured and so he had to save himself a bit. He’s not a person who wants to act because if you are like that you cannot play football. He got rested at the weekend so he will be 100% fresh, he’s not injured any more. We will see the full package Neymar.”
Despite splashing over 400mn euros on Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, PSG failed to progress beyond the last 16 in their quest to win a first ever Champions League. But Klopp, who led Liverpool to the final in May, believes marrying a richly talented squad with new coach Thomas Tuchel makes the French giants an even bigger threat to win the competition this season.
“The players they have, the manager they have, they all brought it together to go as far as possible in the Champions League,” he added. “He is an outstanding coach. I really thought it was a smart decision of PSG to sign Tuchel,” said Klopp. “For this kind of team with unbelievable individual quality, you still need a manager who can teach or educate them in playing together and they brought in one of the best I know. That makes them quite a big challenge for us.”
Liverpool have build on the momentum of reaching last season’s final and a summer of shrewd investment in the transfer market by winning all five of their opening Premier League games. However, as they prepare to face one of the world’s most daunting attacking tridents in Neymar, Mbappe and Edison Cavani, Klopp could be without one of his prolific front three.
Roberto Firmino suffered an abrasion after being poked in his left eye by Tottenham’s Jan Vertonghen on Saturday and is a doubt to partner Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane. “Would he play today? No chance, but we all hope tomorrow (he’ll be ok),” said Klopp.
“It’s a big relief for us. It’s painful, nobody needs that, but he will be fine. We only don’t know exactly when. Another 30 hours until the game so we will see how it develops.”
Should Firmino be unable to take his place at centre forward, then Daniel Sturridge is the most likely to take his spot. Klopp said that forwards Dominic Solanke and Divock Origi were both ruled out for the visit of PSG due to injuries picked up on Sunday playing for the club’s Under-23 team.
Another decision Klopp will have to make is whether to recall Jordan Henderson to central midfield or stick with Naby Keita and Georgino Wijnaldum, who featured in Saturday’s win at Tottenham. Henderson, who skippered Liverpool last season on their run to the Champions League final, where they lost to Real Madrid, has been given a restricted start to the campaign after returning late to pre-season after the World Cup.
The England international said he had no problem with the selection choices made by Klopp. “I came back later than everybody else so I can’t expect to come straight back in,” he said.
“The lads have worked so hard in pre-season. I can see the benefits already. The rhythm they have — they’re at a very, very high level. They’re winning games. It’s normal for me that I’m not playing, I can accept it. Just means I have to keep working hard and take my chance when it comes,” he added.
Liverpool have won all five of their Premier League games so far and Henderson said he needed a break after a marathon campaign last season.
Champions League Fixtures
Today: Group A: At Bruges, Belgium: Club Brugge (BEL) v Borussia
Dortmund (GER); At Monaco: Monaco (FRA) v Atletico Madrid (ESP)
Group B: At Barcelona, Spain (1655 GMT); Barcelona (ESP) v PSV Eindhoven (NED); At Milan, Italy (1655 GMT): Inter (ITA) v Tottenham Hotspur (ENG)
Group C: At Liverpool, England:
Liverpool (ENG) v Paris Saint-Germain (FRA); At Belgrade: Red Star Belgrade (SRB) v Napoli (ITA)
Group D: At Istanbul, Turkey: Galatasaray (TUR) v Lokomotiv Moscow (RUS); At Gelsenkirchen, Germany: Schalke 04 (GER) v FC Porto (POR)
Tomorrow:
Group E: At Amsterdam (1655 GMT); Ajax (NED) v AEK Athens (GRE); At Lisbon: Benfica (POR) v Bayern Munich (GER)
Group F: At Kharkiv, Ukraine (1655 GMT); Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) v Hoffenheim (GER): At Manchester, England: Manchester City (ENG) v Lyon (FRA)
Group G: At Madrid: Real Madrid (ESP) v Roma (ITA); At Plzen, Czech Republic: Viktoria Plzen (CZE) v CSKA Moscow (RUS)
Group H: At Bern: Young Boys (SUI) v Manchester United (ENG); At Valencia, Spain: Valencia (ESP) v Juventus (ITA)
Paris Saint-Germain’s Neymar (left) jokes with Kylian Mbappe during a training session in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, on the eve of their UEFA Champions League match against Liverpool. (AFP)
