Liverpool boss Klopp condemns UK government: ‘I feel like an alien’
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has condemned Boris Johnson’s government for their handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
The German is two wins away from securing Liverpool’s first league title for 30 years, and thought about dismissing a question about the government’s response to the global crisis, but instead launched into a typical diatribe.
He said: “I am a sportsperson and I don’t want to say what I really think about the situation because it would open a Pandora’s box. But…
“I didn’t vote for this Government – that’s my excuse,” said Klopp. “This Government was the choice of other people.
“The problem I have is that I get the news from England and the news from Germany. I have no idea what it was like in Italy or France, but I do know exactly how it is here in England and in Germany.
“If aliens looked at us both from the outside, they would think we came from two different planets.”
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He added: “From a personal point of view I don’t understand why we started wearing face masks in closed areas like shops on June 15 when all other countries were doing it five or six weeks ago.
“You can argue about whether it makes sense to wear them, but all countries who started wearing face masks earlier have better and smaller casualty numbers than here in England. That’s the truth.
“If you want to enter a shop in Germany, but don’t wear a face mask, then you aren’t allowed in. With a face mask you can go in all the shops you want. You can go to the hairdresser, wherever.
“They wear a face mask, you wear a face mask, and sometimes the people in the shop will wear even more protection like a screen.
“When I go to the petrol station here in England I am the only one wearing a face mask, and I’m the only one with gloves — and I feel like an alien.
“I will not stop doing that until someone tells me it’s over.
“Inside the club we are safe. We are tested twice a week and it is a safe environment. But when we step outside we are all in the same situation.
“In Germany, my family is there, I know that they live the kind of normal life that we cannot imagine here.
“Restaurants are working as normal. You go in, you sit at your table with your family and friends, but you wear a face mask. You still have a wonderful night.
“That’s how it is. It doesn’t sound so difficult to me. When I see the numbers here in England and then in Germany, I think . . .
“Look, it’s not perfect in Germany; people have died and people have been ill. But in terms of living your life it is completely different.”