Jürgen Klopp has said Claudio Ranieri's dismissal ranks alongside Brexit and the election of Donald Trump as the most mystifying decisions of recent times. Liverpool will be Leicester City's first opponents since Ranieri was sacked when they travel to King Power Stadium on Monday. And the decision to remove the manager responsible for delivering a stunning Premier League title triumph only nine months ago, with Leicester a 1-0 home win away from reaching the Champions League quarter-finals, has added to Klopp's bewilderment with current events.
The Liverpool manager said: “What can I say? Am I surprised that things like this can happen? No. It is not only football. For me there have been a few strange decisions in 16/17: Brexit, Trump, Ranieri. Do I have to understand it all the time? Obviously not. I have no idea why Leicester did this. Everyone could see the situation in the league, the situation in the Champions League – which we are not in.
"He is a really special person in this business, a really nice guy. I met him before when he visited me at Dortmund and we had a nice talk. He is a wonderful person. Maybe you have to go to Leicester and ask them why they did it. I told the players at the beginning of the week Leicester now know exactly what the problem is and we should expect the best Leicester City. You saw the Champions League game and the reaction after they scored: it was like two different games before and after they scored. Obviously they needed this goal to get confidence back. We have to think about this side and that is difficult enough."
Vast experience
Despite reports of problems between Ranieri and the Leicester players this season, Klopp does not believe a manager of the Italian’s vast experience will have changed his methods in light of last season’s title victory. “I am pretty sure Ranieri didn’t change,” the Liverpool manager added. “He is too experienced for this. He found a perfect clue for this team last year – how to give them a plan – but I can’t say what happened there since.
“I don’t think they will change on Monday. I think probably the two assistants will do it so that’s not a change. Probably the players have to show a few things and they want to, it is obvious for us to not let them. If we play our best we will be difficult to play against whoever. I saw their Champions League game and it was unbelievable the change in this one second when they scored a goal. Maybe they can keep this and then they have to make it not too easy for them to bring it on the pitch or to not let their confidence grow. We have to play our best football – that’s what we have been working on for 15 days.”
Hard done by
Meanwhile, José Mourinho, the Manchester United manager, believes Ranieri can feel hard done after being let down by his players.
“Probably the season started with the typical selfishness of others, people thinking about new contracts, people thinking about leaving, people thinking about more money, people forgetting what helped them reach a certain level,” he said.
"But this is not just football. I think it's also a bit our world, maybe your world too. I lived a similar experience at Chelsea, but what happened to me was peanuts compared with the dimension of what has happened to Claudio.
“I thought last season, when I was sacked as a champion, it was a giant, negative thing, now I recognise it’s peanuts compared to Claudio.” Guardian service
