‘If they don’t find an appropriate place for us – not 3am on Christmas Day – then we don’t play it’: Jurgen Klopp threatens to boycott Carabao Cup quarter-final as it’s scheduled for when Liverpool are due to fly to Qatar for Club World Cup
Jurgen Klopp has voiced his concern over Liverpool‘s Christmas fixture pile-up after they made it through to the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup.
Liverpool will find out on Thursday morning who they face in the last eight, the games of which is supposed be played the week beginning December 15.
But Liverpool are due in Qatar for the Club World Cup that week with the final on Saturday, December 21. That all comes before the hectic festive period in which Liverpool will also play on Boxing Day and December 29.
Jurgen Klopp embraces Curtis Jones, who scored the winning penalty for Liverpool
Klopp is happy with his side’s progression but not the fixture congestion it is going to cause
The Carabao Cup quarter-finals are scheduled for the week beginning December 15, when Liverpool are in Qatar for the Club World Cup, and Klopp has warned the club would forfeit the second domestic cup competition if a suitable compromise is not found.
When asked if he was worried about the fixture clashes, Klopp said: ‘I’m not concerned – somebody else has to be concerned because we didn’t make the fixture list, we didn’t make the schedule. I’ve said it already, FIFA told us the Club World Cup will be there and we have to come there. We will do.
‘The Premier League tells us we have to play in the Premier League, which we do obviously. The Carabao Cup, what we did against Arsenal, if they don’t find an appropriate place for us – not 3am on Christmas Day – then we don’t play it. They have to make that decision.
Klopp wants there to be a compromise so that his players don’t suffer from fatigue
‘You have to think about these things. If you have a fixture list where one team cannot be part of all the games, then you have to think about the fixture list. Hopefully it starts now. I really think that’s fair and this problem is obvious now.’
The likelihood is that the Football League, who are in talks with Liverpool, other quarter-finalists and the Premier League, will pencil in Liverpool’s tie for the week beginning January 6, 2020. Liverpool have midweek commitments from the middle of November to the end of 2019.
If they negotiate the quarter-finals, though, there are continued ramifications about when they would play the semi-final and Klopp said: ‘We will not be the victim of this problem. We played Arsenal, we wanted to win it, we did that.
‘If they don’t find a proper date for us, then we cannot play the next round and whoever is our opponent will go through. Or Arsenal play them. A lot of people from the Premier League were sitting in front of the television hoping that Arsenal can do it. But, I’m sorry!’
