Pep Guardiola says he would rather match be postponed than played behind closed doors. Jurgen Klopp admitted that “some things are more important than football.”
Pep and Jurgen weighed the ongoing coronavirus crisis
Man City boss Pep Guardiola and Liverpool head coach Jürgen Klopp weighed the ongoing coronavirus crisis, with the first hinting that it would be better to postpone games in general, as opposed to staging them behind closed doors. The COVID-19 outbreak continues to cause severe disruptions to the football calendar every day, as countries establish protocols to contain the spread of the disease. After announcing that Italy blocked on Monday across the country, it’s has confirmed that the current season of Serie A has postponed indefinitely. The Champions League is also in danger of closure: two of the last 16 scheduled connections this week should be played in empty stadiums.
All matches will be played behind closed doors
The meeting of Valencia with Atalanta on Tuesday night will be held behind closed doors: Paris Saint-Germain should follow his example when on Wednesday he will play host to Borussia Dortmund at Parc des Princes. Supporters are also banned from visiting Barcelona vs. Napoli and Bayern Munich vs. Chelsea on March 18, and LASK will be forced to close its gates when Manchester United arrives in Austria on Thursday to clash the Europa League. Guardiola is currently preparing his Manchester City side for Arsenal to come at Etihad Stadium in the middle of the week, which is the same place where they will welcome Real Madrid to the second stage of their first Champions League knockout stage in next Tuesday.
The next two weeks are behind closed doors
It’s not yet known whether this fixture will go ahead as planned, given the increase in the number of cases of coronavirus in Spain, which is why La Liga has closed the shop for the next 15 days. “We are aware of this because it happened already in Italy.” Pep said when asked for comment on the actions taken to combat the coronavirus. “The league has suspended, in Spain, the next two weeks are behind closed doors. It will happen here. The trend is rising at the same level as Italy before and in Spain right now.” Another question you should ask, is it worse to play football without spectators? We do our work for the people, and if the people cannot come to observe us, there is no sense.
Some things are more important than football
I would not want to play matches either in the Premier League, or in the Champions League, or cups without people. But we will follow the instructions of governments. “Everyone around the world is involved in this, and we just follow what we have to do and follow the instructions.” Liverpool doesn’t have to worry that he will be left without the support of his fans when on Wednesday will take Atletico de Madrid at Anfield, as it continues to pursue the second consecutive Euro Cup triumph. Jurgen admitted that “some things are more important than football,” and Liverpool will respect any decisions that have made when it comes to how the British government deals with coronavirus. Still, he shares Guardiola’s skepticism about stopping fans from visiting games.
“It’s not about me as a manager. When something shows at the moment, some things are more important than football,” Klopp told reporters. “We understand that at this moment. We need to find a solution to this. Avoiding various situations, I don’t know how much it will help. “We all have families and friends that we want to do well. We will accept it, but I don’t know what meaning it will have.”