Klopp hits back at racist comments aimed at Germany: “The world should take an example from a football dressing room”

Sunday in Augsburg: Germany had 76 per cent of the ball against Greece, sixteen attempts, a goal conceded to Kourbelis on 74 minutes, a 1-0 defeat. Online, the evening drifted onto a different pitch: the squad was “not German enough”, “not white enough”.

On Wednesday evening, at the press conference before tonight’s match against Serbia, Klopp had an answer ready. “Listen, there is no reason to worry about those people. They don’t interest me. In everyday life I have little time for stupidity, and none for social media either,” he told a journalist, per So Foot. Then he widened the point: “The world should take an example from a football dressing room”, where everyone is respected on facts, never disqualified over opinions.

A controversy in step with German politics

The backdrop is not neutral. Many of Klopp’s players have migration backgrounds, and the AfD won the regional election in Saxony-Anhalt in September. When he took the job, Klopp claimed a national pride and criticised the AfD, without naming the party. Inside the squad, he says, the subject does not even exist: the best signal is that it is not a topic in the team.

The controversy does not show in the odds

Tonight in Munich, Germany play their third match under Klopp against a Serbia side without a point. Third in the group with a single point, taken in the Netherlands, and beaten at home by Greece, they have no margin left. The market expects a reaction: Germany are 1.23 favourites at Betano, in from 1.32 on the opening line. The racist abuse carries no weight here; the odds judge the squad and the standings, not the noise. My full read and the bet are in my Germany v Serbia prediction. 18+. Only bet what you can afford to lose.