Jurgen Klopp Claims He Would Call Liverpool Players Off Pitch in Event of Racist Abuse

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has insisted that a firm rule should be put in place to act in the event of racial abuse, and claimed that he would be prepared

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has insisted that a firm rule should be put in place to act in the event of racial abuse, and claimed that he would be prepared to call his players off if they were being abused.

The subject has intensified recently following England's 5-1 win in Moldova on Monday, during which Three Lions players were subject to alleged racist abuse from the crowd, with UEFA now investigating the events which have been branded a 'disaster'.

England reported the abuse after Danny Rose had informed staff of chants from spectators at the game. Klopp has insisted that he would be willing to call his players off from the field in such an event. 

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As quoted by Sky Sports, the Liverpool boss said: "If it's the whole stand, I would do it 100 per cent.

"But it's too much power for one or two idiots [to stop the game]. We have to find ways to punish these incidents.

"It's not the coaches should do that - match officials - because if I take the players off and they say it was not that serious, you lose the game, our job is to win football games.

"But if a whole stand was doing it then it's completely different."

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"It's very difficult for me to really feel the situation of Raheem [Sterling] or Rose or other players, of our players who face something like that, because I never had a situation like that.

"Whatever I could do, I would do. We have to stop games, we have to do everything. I understand that Gareth [Southgate] didn't do it and didn't say, 'Come on, off the pitch', but we have to make clear that's not allowed and that's not possible.

"Each punishment from my point of view is pretty much allowed. There were a couple of incidents in the last few weeks, not only racism but other silly situations - running on the pitch, stuff like that. It's not fun and we have to make clear it's not fun, so stop it."

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Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri has also weighed in on the situation, calling for officials to introduce a rule which enables players to leave the pitch in the event of racist abuse.

He said: "We need a rule, I think, for all football. A rule that can permit us to stop the match. In every country, there are some stupid people. It's a big problem. I think we need to do something different. Probably it's right to stop the match for 10 minutes in the first situation."