Jurgen Klopp has admitted that he was shocked to see Manchester City handed a two year ban from European football.
UEFA made the landmark announcement on Friday evening having found the Premier League champions guilty of overstating the value of their flagship sponsorship deals, the club accused of circumventing financial fair play regulations through their billionaire owners.
While Man City immediately announced their intention to appeal the decision, which will see them banished from European football in both the 2020/21 and 2021/22 campaigns, they also face the prospect of further punishment by the Premier League, with the possibility of a points deduction being described as ‘highly likely’ by the Independent.
Despite Pep Guardiola’s side currently sitting second, they now sit a whopping 25 points behind league leaders Liverpool, and speaking after their 1-0 victory over Norwich, Jurgen Klopp refused to speak about the accusations but admitted he felt for Guardiola and his players.
“It was a shock. Complete wow,” Klopp told Sky Sports.
“The only thing I can talk is about [their] football. What they have done on the football pitch is exceptional. The rest, I don’t know. You believe the people you work with, that’s how it is.
“I really feel for them, Pep [Guardiola] and the players, but that is how it is. They can appeal so we will see what happens then. It is obviously serious. But the football they played was exceptional and will always be exceptional.”
Klopp defends his FA Cup absence and insists its ‘important we keep the winter break’
Assessing who should be England’s number one for Euro 2020