It took a little while before Jürgen Klopp reached his favorite annoyance.

His Liverpool FC won the semi-final first leg of the Champions League with 2-0 goals against FC Villarreal on Wednesday evening.

The English club did better than Juventus Turin and FC Bayern, who ultimately failed because of the Spanish outsider in the rounds of this year's premier class campaign.

Liverpool still have to survive the second leg on Tuesday (9 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Champions League and on Prime Video), the chances are pretty good.

Tobias Rabe

Responsible editor for Sport Online.

  • Follow I follow

The German coach was happy about that.

The entry into the final on May 28th is close.

Two weeks earlier, Liverpool are in the final of the English Cup.

The Reds have already won the League Cup.

In the Premier League, too, they still have a point behind Manchester City, who could also be opponents in the final game of the Champions League after the 4-3 spectacle against Real Madrid.

Bottom line, makes four possible triumphs.

That would be the "Quadruple", and Klopp has been asked about it again and again for some time.

He usually laughs, is happy about the successes so far, explains how difficult it will all be and praises his team.

Of course, Klopp knows he can't stop the talk.

But he also knows that no one has ever won a trophy through talk.

So he uses the opportunity to at least loudly point out what he sees as a crying injustice.

It is a logical consequence that a club that goes far in its competitions has a lot of games.

A Klopp can't change that.

But what annoys him enormously are the game dates in the domestic Premier League.

"It's a dirty kick-off time"

After the Champions League game on Wednesday evening, Liverpool are again challenged on Saturday at 12.30 p.m. local time at Newcastle United.

There would have been other options;

there are also games scheduled at 3 p.m. and one at 5.30 p.m.

In addition, games in England are usually played on Sundays at 2 p.m. and 4.30 p.m., which, like a start on Monday at 8 p.m., would not have been an option for Liverpool this time because the game continues in Villarreal on Tuesday.

But a later appointment on Saturday and not already at lunchtime would have been very convenient for Klopp.

It's not the first time Liverpool have seen such a move.

And it's not the first time Klopp has complained.

The background is clear: the television rights holders, who make the Premier League the richest football league in the world - and thus help Liverpool to afford an exquisite squad that is also successful internationally - determine the dates.

For their money, they want to present the train numbers as prominently as possible for the spectators.

Klopp calls for the TV contracts to be adjusted to “reality.

The TV stations need to talk about it."

Klopp called the date of the Newcastle game a "dirty kick-off time" because his players played in an unhealthy rhythm: in the evening against Villarreal, at noon against Newcastle, then again in the evening in Villarreal.

“We want to play all the games that are coming up, no problem.

But it doesn't have to be that they let us play at 12:30 on Saturdays and then see how things go – for no reason.

I will never understand that.” Klopp knows the background, especially since a special rule comes into effect in England, the “Blackout Rule”, which prohibits live broadcasts on Saturdays between 2.45 p.m. and 5.15 p.m. in order to lure fans into the stadium and protect amateur football .

Since those who pay also want to have a say, the TV stations have a decisive say in the schedule design.

They want to show Liverpool, Manchester City and all the big names that viewers subscribe to.

But that doesn't work on Saturday afternoons.

Next weekend it is City's turn in the evening game at 5.30 p.m., Liverpool accordingly early.

The rule, which has existed since the 1960s, was only lifted when no spectators were allowed in the stadium during the corona pandemic.

They've been back for a long time.

And the blackout rule too.

After all, the midday game is to be postponed to the evening from the coming season.

Money beats health - and Klopp is annoyed, even in the hour of triumph.

"When I see the colleagues from BT Sports (rights holders of the Premier League/ed.) sitting here and how they are talking: 'And on Saturday at 12.30 Newcastle vs Liverpool', I could go straight into the studio and give them all one lubricate," said an angry Klopp at DAZN.

"It's just so crazy that in how many hours do we have to go back there.

And two days later we have to go back to Villarreal.” So he can't think about any titles at all.

Not thinking, but cracking was Liverpool's task on Wednesday evening.

It took a while for the Spanish defense, which FC Bayern had failed to overcome, to be overcome.

After half-time, a deflected cross from Jordan Henderson landed in the goal (53rd minute), then Sadio Mané spotted a gap and scored to make it 2-0 (55th).

Klopp was thrilled: "We played a really good game for 95 minutes.

They were great goals, a top-class performance.” But “it's only half-time.

There are 90 minutes left.

It will be a completely different atmosphere.

We have to make sure we're ready for it.” But first we're off to Newcastle.

At the unpopular lunchtime.