Jurgen Klopp admits he would never have a player like Sergio Ramos in his team as he berated the “brutal” manner in which the former Spain international ended Mohamed Salah’s Champions League final six years ago. Salah was forced off with a shoulder injury during the first half of Liverpool’s showpiece match against Real Madrid in Kyiv in May 2018 after being roughly fouled by Ramos.
The Liverpool forward, who had scored 44 goals that season, left the field in tears with the damage also hampering his World Cup participation with Egypt the following month.
Without Salah, the Reds went on to lose the final 3-1 after two howlers from goalkeeper Loris Karius, who never played for the club again.
And in a podcast interview with former Real Madrid and Germany midfielder Toni Kroos, ex-Reds boss Klopp has questioned the mentality of Ramos, who has the record for most cards received in La Liga, the Champions League, the Spanish national team and Real Madrid.
Is Mr Sergio Ramos really a good guy?” said Klopp on the Einfach mal Lupen podcast hosted by Kroos.
“He’s not my favourite player. The action was brutal. Of course, he can’t know that it’s going to injure his (Salah’s) shoulder, but we all know that he accepted it very happily.
“I could never understand that mentality, I never had players like that and, when I did, I made sure they left.”
Kroos then described Ramos as “very good team-mate” only for Klopp to respond: “He may not be my favourite player, but it doesn’t matter.
I always thought that my centre-backs were good enough not to be involved in actions like that.”
Both Salah and Klopp gained redemption the following year by lifting the Champions League in Madrid by beating Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 in the final. Ramos, now 38, is without a club having been released by hometown team Sevilla in the summer.
