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Geremi hits out at Jurgen Klopp over AFCON comments

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Former Chelsea player says the continental tournament deserves more respect.

Jurgen Klopp’s controversial comments on the Africa Cup of Nations still attracts criticism. The German manager tried to explain what he meant by the comments later. However, it seems his remarks have not satisfied former Chelsea and Real Madrid player Geremi.

“When Jurgen Klopp described the Africa Cup of Nations as a “little tournament” I was far from impressed,” Geremi wrote for the Daily Mail.

“A lot of fans from outside of Africa may not know but in my view, AFCON is the third most important football tournament on the planet and it means so much to anyone competing on this stage.

“I am unhappy about Klopp’s remarks, to say the least, and think it’s a big shame that the Liverpool manager has not respected the competition.”

As a two-time AFCON winner, Geremi’s frustration seems logical. However, Klopp’s remarks were clearly sarcastic.

Trying to explain the miscommunication, the Liverpool manager said: “What I meant was, if you watch the whole press conference then you might have understood it the right way if you wanted to, because I said there are no international breaks until March now.

“I said “oh there’s a little tournament in January”. I didn’t mean a little tournament, I was just saying it’s still a tournament, it’s ironic. It’s still a tournament, a big one. We lose our best players to that tournament…”

Liverpool will have to deal with the absence of three first-team players during the AFCON. Naby Keita and Sadio Mane will face each other while playing for Guinea and Senegal in Group B. On the other hand, Mohamed Salah will spearhead Egypt’s hopes to clinch their first title in 11 years. 

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