Liverpool witnessed a glimpse of this abuse and received a hostile reception as they arrived for their game with Leeds at Elland Road. The Yorkshire Giants donned shirts with the Champions League logo "Earn it" on the front and "football is for the fans" on the back. They also left the Liverpool team the shirts in the away dressing room, hung in front of each locker. Of course, this was done with the Premier League's approval, since all clubs must notify them before kick-off if they plan on wearing unique pre-match shirts.

Klopp was clearly offended as he stated: "And if somebody thinks they have to remind us that you have to earn it to go to the Champions League then it’s a joke, a real joke, and it makes me angry.

“They have put them in our dressing room. If it was Leeds’ idea, thank you very much. Nobody needs to remind us. Maybe they should remind themselves.”

Meanwhile, Leeds United fans and other clubs supporters gathered outside the stadium during which a Liverpool shirt was burned, and a plane flew overhead, carrying an anti-super league message.

Although the decision was taken by the owners FSG, and he and his players had nothing to do with the talks, Klopp believes they will continue to face the worst of the criticism - even though the German manager stood in the opposition.

“I don’t worry about that, I know it will be like this. Of course, football fans are like this,” he said.

“It is probably not only for Liverpool but for us I am sure. It is not about fair play in these moments.

“I am pretty sure the supporters of Leeds who were showing up at the stadium and running after us knew as well that we were not involved in it but they didn’t care.

“They just wanted to tell us what they told us. Yes, it will be even worse when people are back in the stadiums.”

Despite the now-strained relationship between Klopp and Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group, the German manager insists he has not fallen out of love with football.

“Never with the game. Just with the things around. It’s a big one, I felt it the same way, but I cannot constantly talk about it, think about it,” he added.

“But I never lost my love for the game. We had so many things going on this year, and we always tried to get through.

“I said after the (Leeds) game, if someone asked me ‘What are you missing from this year?’, in terms of what could have happened on top of all the rubbish that happened to you, I would have said ‘The Super League is coming up!’.

“It was a lot, but it had nothing to do with the game.

“All the things around it? The game stayed the same. It got better and better and better.”

Klopp has not spoken with the owners after the fiasco, yet he stresses he is not waiting for an apology since Liverpool's fortunes on the field will always be more crucial to him. He states the owners 'are not bad people - they just made a bad decision, but let's carry on', showing he is eager to leave this in the past.

However, Klopp and Pep Guardiola, manager of Manchester City, are not satisfied with UEFA's new development plans to expand the Champions League for the 2024/25 season. Klopp insisted this was not a feasible solution to the current financial crises in the world of football.

"You can't just introduce always more competitions," he stated. "It's very good that the new Super League is off the table, but the new Champions League is not great.

"The only people who never get asked are the coaches, the players and the supporters. UEFA didn't ask us.

"UEFA showed me the idea, and I said I don't like it - 10 games rather than six. No idea where to put them in."

In the proposed plans, the number of teams participating in the group stage will rise from 32 to 36, and teams will play against ten different sides, with five away games and five home games.

In other news, Liverpool are planning to make RB Leipzig defender Ibrahim Konate their first potential summer transfer for a whOpping 30.5 million fee. With the Reds defence department in shatters this season, due to Virgil van Dijk being out with injury concerns and Alisson Becker not up to mark lately, the Reds could do with new blood. However, a certain young player, Trent Alexander-Arnold, has been reaching new heights after recently being named one of the Premier League's greatest 11 players in Sportingbet's list. working hard to keep the Red’s Champions League ambitions on course.

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