Jurgen Klopp believes games should be stopped in order to combat racial abuse of players.
Several England players reported racist chanting from fans during their 5-1 Euro 2020 qualification win in Montenegro on Monday, with Manchester City star Raheem Sterling cupping his ear to the home fans after scoring England’s fifth goal.
The chants were the latest in a string of recent racist incidents within football, and Liverpool manager Klopp believes putting a stop to games is the best way to combat the abuse.
‘We have to stop games, I understand that Gareth didn’t do it but we have to make clear that’s now allowed or possible,’ Klopp told the press ahead of his sides clash with Spurs at Anfield this Sunday.
‘There were a couple of situations in the last few weeks, not only racism but other silly situations – (fans) running on the pitch, stuff like that – it’s not fun, we have to make that clear and stop it.’
‘I don’t know if I would do (take players off)… it’s really difficult for me to hear things like that in a stadium and probably see it in the moment if it’s one or two guys.
‘If it’s the whole stand then I would do it yeah, 100 per cent. But that’s too much power for one or two idiots or three or four idiots. But we have to find ways to punish these guys, to get them out.’