Klopp and Wijnaldum upset wtih nature of Van Dijk's injury

SHOWS: AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS (OCTOBER 20, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

1. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIVERPOOL MANAGER, JUERGEN KLOPP, ON POSSIBLE EUROPEAN SUPER LEAGUE, SAYING:

REPORTER: "How do you feel as manager about a European Premier League, possibly replacing the Champions League?"

KLOPP: "I had absolutely no time to think about it. I'm not involved in this, I have no idea about it to be one hundred per cent honest. I'm here, I deal with the daily stuff. Okay, so, if you think now I'm in this things as well, then I have to disappoint you, I'm not. I have no idea, I'm here today to prepare the game against Ajax and deal with all the daily stuff. But, about the other things, I can't say anything, sorry."

2. WHITE FLASH

3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIVERPOOL MANAGER, JUERGEN KLOPP, ON DEALING WITHOUT VIRGIL VAN DIJK, SAYING:

"We are still a little bit sensitive with the situation, which you are obviously not. That's exactly the situation why we are in the moment in a completely different mood to you. You only, the first question people ask: 'what are you doing now in the transfer market?'. We know since yesterday that our vice-captain and the best center-half in the world is not playing for us for a long time. We see how long, and now we work on solutions for now and from a specific moment on we will try to find solutions for the future. But I have no idea how they will look in this moment, sorry."

4. WHITE FLASH

5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIVERPOOL MANAGER, JUERGEN KLOPP, ON CHALLENGE THAT LED TO VAN DIJK'S INJURY AGAINST EVERTON, SAYING:

"It's not that I want to have a player punished, but I think it's something we have to, we all agreed on. If you do something wrong, you have to deal with the consequences and in this moment it's only person who deals with the consequences. Two person, sorry, Virgil van Dijk and Thiago Alcantara. And all the rest is going on just like this and that's difficult. I wouldn't have spoken about it, so if you don't ask me, because you keep all these stories up. You, not you personally, but you personally as well, so you keep all these stories up. I'm here because of a Champions League game and I want to be focused on a Champions League game, but you ask these questions and now you again, everybody will judge us. Because we don't deal in the right way with it, but we did nothing wrong in the game. I don't think we did anything wrong since then. But we are still, not me as well, but mostly our players are still the ones who suffer of it and that doesn't feel right. And it's not easy to deal with these kind of things. Again, we all accept that injuries can happen, but it should be in a normal challenge."

6. WHITE FLASH

7. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIVERPOOL MIDFIELDER, GEORGINIO WIJNALDUM, ON VAN DIJK'S INJURY, SAYING:

"I think we had it a lot with the games against Everton. In my opinion, they take it way too far in the games we play against them. We know it's a derby and everyone wants to win the derby and sometimes you go a little bit over the top, but it was too much. And it was not only his tackle (Everton goalkeeper, Jordan Pickford), if we talk about the tackle from Richarlison on Thiago, was also a nasty one. So, you know and that's what bothered me the most and I think most of the other players, accidents can always happen in football. You can be unlucky with a tackle and you can injure someone, but the way they were doing it is completely unacceptable and it makes it harder that they don't get punished."

STORY: Frustrated Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp dismissed suggestions his side would struggle to cope without central defender Virgil van Dijk after the Dutchman suffered a serious knee injury in the Merseyside derby at the weekend.

Speaking ahead of Wednesday's (October 21) clash at Ajax Amsterdam in their opening Champions League fixture, Klopp was in combative mood when asked about the absent Van Dijk.

Centre back Joel Matip and Thiago both missed training on Tuesday (October 20) and are unlikely to feature, adding to Liverpool's problems ahead of their first meeting with Ajax since 1966.

Asked about the wild tackle from Everton keeper Jordan Pickford that injured Van Dijk, Klopp was still clearly angry that Pickford escaped punishment.

"I am here for a Champions League game but you ask these questions. And now everyone will judge us," Klopp said.

"We didn't do anything wrong in the game but we are still the ones who suffer. It doesn't feel right, it's not easy. We accept injuries but it should be in a normal challenge.

"We are still a bit sensitive with the situation which is why we're in a different mood to you. We've known since yesterday the best centre back in the world is not with us."

(Production: Stefan Haskins)