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“Who Does He Think He Is?” - Senegal Manager Savages Jurgen Klopp After Controversial AFCON Comments

“Who Does He Think He Is?” - Senegal Manager Savages Jurgen Klopp After Controversial AFCON Comments

Klopp's comments haven't sat well with Cisse.

Senegal manager Aliou Cisse is furious with Jurgen Klopp following his controversial Africa Cup of Nations comments.

Liverpool will be without Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita in the new year when AFCON finally takes place, after two delays.

Klopp was asked about the disruption and referred to the tournament as 'little' which has caused controversy.

Those words have made it back to Cisse, who unloaded on Klopp in a recent interview.

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PA

"Who does Klopp think he is?” he begun per the Daily Express.

“I manage Senegal and my players play for Klopp at Liverpool.

“I respect Liverpool but not Klopp who undermines African football events. He is where he is today because of African footballers."

Cisse then said Klopp owes his success to African players, having lost 'every final' until Salah, Mane and defender Joel Matip came along.

Liverpool lost the 2016 Europa League final to Sevilla and 2018 Champions League final to Real Madrid respectively, before winning the latter a year later.

“He was losing every final until Salah, Mane, Matip came to his rescue to win his first-ever major European final," Cisse continued.

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PA

“Today, he has the guts to call AFCON a ‘small tournament’. AFCON has the same number of participants, 24, as the UEFA Euro. So who does he think he is?

“AFCON will have the same superstars that are currently helping him to shine at Liverpool. AFCON is the same quality as the Euros.”

Klopp attempted to clarify his comments and stressed he meant no disrespect to the continent of Africa.

He blasted: “It’s not even close to the idea in my mind that I want to talk about AFCON as a little tournament, or the continent of Africa like a little continent, not at all.

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PA

“What I meant is, because people said, and if you watch the full press conference, if you wanted to understand it in the right way you could have understood it in the right way.

“I said: ‘there’s no international break anymore until March’ and I said: ‘Oh and there’s a little tournament in January,’ and I didn’t mean a little tournament, just like you say it when there’s still a tournament. It’s ironic."

Liverpool are currently second in the Premier League and Salah is the league's top scorer with 13 goals.

Featured Image Credit: PA Images

Topics: Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp