LONDON: It has taken two months, but Jurgen Klopp finally ended his silence over the Sergio Ramos challenge that ended Mohamed Salah’s Champions League final.
In one of the most entertaining showdowns in recent years, which saw Real Madrid beat Liverpool 3-1 in Kiev, the biggest of several talking points was Ramos’ foul, which resulted in an injured shoulder, tears and an early bath for the Egyptian ace.
Salah went into the clash as the danger man Real had to stop, on the back of a brilliant first season with the Reds that saw him score 44 goals in
all competitions, and 32 goals in the Premier League — a record in a 38-game season.
But after less than 30 minutes the Egyptian talisman went down under a challenge from Ramos and suffered shoulder ligament damage that forced him off the pitch.
Having kept quiet on the issue, Klopp, however, has finally broken his silence and hit out at Ramos for ruining Liverpool’s chances of a sixth European Cup, saying the Spanish defender brought down the forward like a wrestler.
“We are opening that bottle again?” Klopp asked on the Reds’ pre-season tour of the US.
“It is action-reaction-action-reaction and I don’t like that, but — if you watch it back and you are not with Real Madrid — then you think it is ruthless and brutal. I saw the ref taking charge of big games at the World Cup and nobody really thinks about that later. But in a situation like that somebody needs to judge it better,” he said.
“If VAR is coming then it is a situation where you have to look again. Not to give a red card but to look again and say: ‘What is that?’ It was ruthless.”
The match was a controversial one with Ramos’ challenge on Salah not the only talking point from a clash won by Gareth Bale’s brilliant overhead kick. Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius, who suffered a concussion during the match, made couple of blunders to concede two goals.
Ramos elbowed the German keeper early in the second half and Karius was seen holding the side of his head after the collision, which came before he made the mistakes that led to the goals.
“I’m not sure it is an experience we will have again — go there and put an elbow to the goalkeeper, put their goalscorer down like a wrestler in midfield and then you win the game. That was the story of the game,” Klopp said.
“Ramos said a lot of things afterwards that I didn’t like. As a person I didn’t like the reactions of him. He was like: ‘Whatever, what do they want? It’s normal.’
“No, it is not normal. If you put all of the situations of Ramos together then you will see a lot of situations with Ramos ... It is like we, the world out there, accepts that you use each weapon to win the game. People probably expect that I am the same. I am not.”
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp hits out at ‘ruthless’ Sergio Ramos over Mohamed Salah challenge
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp hits out at ‘ruthless’ Sergio Ramos over Mohamed Salah challenge
Pakistan face arch-rivals India today in blockbuster T20 World Cup clash in Colombo
- Cricket contest takes place amid surging political tensions between India and Pakistan after their May 2025 clash
- Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav says team will decide whether or not to shake hands with Pakistani cricketers
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan take on defending champions and arch-rivals India today, Sunday, in Colombo in a highly anticipated T20 World Cup 2026 clash between the two sides.
The Group A fixture between the two sides will not just be important for the on-field cricket action but also because of the political tensions between the neighbors. India and Pakistan engaged in a brief military confrontation in May 2025 which came to a halt after Washington brokered a ceasefire.
However, political tensions spilled over onto the cricket field when Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav opted out of shaking hands with his Pakistani counterpart before the toss at their Asia Cup encounter last year in September. The Indian team refused to shake hands with their Pakistani counterparts in all three matches of the tournament, triggering a strong protest from Pakistan.
Tensions surged again after Pakistan’s government announced earlier this month it would not allow its team to play against India in the World Cup in solidarity with Bangladesh. The South Asian country was replaced with Scotland after it refused to play its matches in India due to security reasons. Pakistan criticized the move and announced boycotting the Feb. 15 match against India. However, Islamabad later took back its decision to boycott the match after negotiations with the International Cricket Council.
“The game should be played in real spirit, the way it has been played since it started,” Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha said at the pre-match press conference on Saturday. “The rest is up to them (India), what they want to do.”
Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav did not commit whether his team will shake hands with Pakistan or not on Sunday.
“Why are you highlighting that?” Yadav asked reporters. “We are here to play cricket. We will play good cricket. We will take all those calls tomorrow. We will see tomorrow.”
Political and military tensions have meant the two teams have not played a bilateral series for years.
India has not traveled to Pakistan since 2008 and Pakistan visited India for the 50-over World Cup in 2023 but has since played ICC tournaments at neutral venues.
India has defeated Pakistan 12 times in the 16 T20 games they have played. They also have an impressive 6-1 record in the eight T20 World Cup matches since the first edition in 2007, with one being tied.
“We don’t have a good record against them in World Cups,” Agha admitted. “But whenever you come to play a new match, it’s a new day and you have to play good cricket to win.
“You can’t change history. You can learn from it. We learned from it and we’ll try to do a good performance tomorrow and win the match.”
Both sides have won their two fixtures so far, with India beating the USA and Namibia while Pakistan have defeated the Netherlands and the USA as well.
The top two teams from each group will qualify for the Super Eight stage of the World Cup.
The match is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. Pakistan Standard Time.
