Jurgen Klopp has given details of his talk with UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin, following criticism of the Champions League final ticket policy.
With Liverpool and Real Madrid fans given an allocation of just 19,618 tickets each for a 75,000-seater Stade de France, Klopp was among those to criticise the situation.
The Reds manager said of the remaining 35,764 seats: “Where are these tickets?!”
Following that, Klopp received a text message from Ceferin, who explained that 93.5 percent of the Champions League final revenue goes to the two clubs, and that the sponsors who finance the showpiece clash are obliged a certain number of tickets.
“He, I think, made the same explanation that he gave publicly,” Klopp revealed on Friday.
“What is it, 93 percent of the money goes to the clubs and UEFA only gets a few euros?
“I replied and said ‘OK, that’s one of these situations where it’s obviously better to have more information before you give answers’.
“The only problem is I cannot be constantly prepared for these kind of things, but I still have an opinion.
“So it’s fine, I will try to clarify that, that’s what I do now.”
However, Klopp took his opportunity with Ceferin to further vent on UEFA’s increasing demand on players with the introduction of the Nations League in 2018.
Liverpool’s campaign ends in Paris on May 28, with a potential trophy parade on Merseyside the following day, and many of the squad will depart immediately after for international fixtures.
Greece, Spain and Portugal, for example, play as soon as June 2.
“I said as well in this conversation, the reason why I’m not in such a good mood when I speak about UEFA and stuff like this is because of the Nations League,” Klopp continued.
“I still think that’s one of the most ridiculous ideas in the world of football.
“Because now we finish a season where players played more than 70 games easily – so just club games, 63, 64, plus internationals goes in the direction of 75, which is really mad – and we continue with Nations League games.
“There is no tournament, [so they say] ‘who cares, then we play four, five, six or whatever games with the national teams’.
“So I said that’s the real reason.
“I would prefer UEFA to take more money from the Champions League final and kick out the Nations League again.
“That would be my preferred solution again – and more tickets for the people anyway.
“I read maybe I still don’t have all the information, but I cannot do more than say my opinion.”
Fan Comments