Liverpool vs PSG: Jurgen Klopp defends Neymar over diving accusations ahead of Champions League clash

David Lynch17 September 2018

Jurgen Klopp has defended Neymar from accusations of diving ahead of Liverpool getting their Champions League campaign under way against Paris Saint-Germain at Anfield.

The Brazilian faced a barrage of criticism over perceived play-acting during his country’s 2018 World Cup run, which ended in defeat to Belgium at the quarter-final stage.

All eyes are sure to be on the world’s most expensive player once more on Tuesday when he features in one of the first heavyweight European clashes of the new season.

But, when asked if his side must be prepared to combat the gamesmanship that marred Neymar’s summer tomorrow evening, Klopp preferred to lavish PSG’s star man with praise.

In fact, the German went as far as to opine that Brazil would have gone all the way in Russia had their No.10 been fully fit.

Klopp said: “I don't follow things like that but, when I saw a few games at the World Cup, I know a few people were talking about that when it looked like he made a bit more of a situation than it was.

“That’s, for me, a completely normal reaction because players are really going for him and he wants to protect himself and I understand that as well.

“If an opponent gets a yellow card then [he] is much closer to a red card so I see it from that perspective [and] thought it is smart that he saves himself.

“Everybody doesn’t have to be worried, we don’t go for him. We play football and we want to win the ball, we don't try to [do] these kind of things.

“We try to avoid passes to him, we try to avoid him winning challenges and all that stuff, which is a big job to do to be honest. I’m not sure if it is possible to avoid his qualities 100%, I’m pretty sure it’s not.

“He is a fantastic footballer, an outstanding player, and he was, for me, at the World Cup not fit. He had already an injury, everybody could see that, but nobody asked him, ‘Can you really play?’

“He tried to take the responsibility and play for his country with not being fit. Belgium played an outstanding game against Brazil but, if Neymar is fit, still Brazil wins it.

“He was injured and so he had to save himself a bit, that’s all. I don't think he is a person who wants to act or something like that because if you are like that you cannot play the football he plays.

“He got rested at the weekend so he will be 100% fresh for us - he’s not injured anymore - and we will see the full Neymar package. We still have to cope with that and that’s what we try.”

Jordan Henderson later followed his manager’s example in describing Neymar as a ‘world-class player’ when quizzed on his reputation for diving.

But the Liverpool captain is confident that he and his teammates can stop the 26-year-old and a star-studded PSG attack from doing damage at Anfield.

He said: “It’s not something we really think about, to be honest. Neymar is a world-class player, he’s a tough opponent, so I’m sure it’ll difficult for us as a team to stop him.

“But we’re capable of stopping him and the rest of the team because we’ve proved that against top players before.

“He obviously gets kicked a lot so he needs to try and use it as best he can but, for us, we just need to treat it as a normal game, a big game for us, [and] we’ve proved against big teams before that we can perform and that we can get the result we need.

“He is just one of many good players in the team, top players, it’s not just him that we have to stop.

“We have to stop the whole team, which will be difficult, but we’re a good team as well and we can certainly cause them problems.”

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