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Xherdan Shaqiri accepts Jurgen Klopp’s decision to omit him from Liverpool’s Belgrade trip, claiming it left him fresh for Fulham.

Klopp left Shaqiri behind on Merseyside for Liverpool’s Champions League defeat against Red Star because he did not want the Swiss star to become a distraction.

Shaqiri, who is an ethnic Kosovan Albanian, angered Serbs during the World Cup with his Albanian double-headed eagle goal celebration against them for Switzerland and he would have been targeted in Belgrade.

Despite any disappointment Shaqiri might have felt, he publicly backed Klopp’s decision and said it helped him against Fulham when he shone and scored his second goal for the club.

“There is a very hot atmosphere there and so it was better to stay at home and just concentrate on football,” he said.

(Image: LAURENT GILLIERON/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

“I was fresh, I stayed here and trained with some other players, but it doesn’t change a lot. I wanted to give a good performance and, yeah, it was a good one.

“In the end it is the coach’s decision who is playing and against who. If he decides to play you from the beginning, nice and good, but also if you are on the bench, try to come in and make an impact.

“Only 11 players can play and we have a big squad. Everybody has to accept the decisions of the coach and up until now it’s gone very well and we are in a good way.”

Shaqiri was part of Bayern Munich’s Champions League winning squad in 2013, which beat Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund, and he was reluctant to compare Liverpool to them.

(Image: REUTERS)

He says his experience at Bayern and Inter Milan means he already knows the pressures of playing for big clubs.

“I played in Bayern Munich with Franck Ribery, Arjen Robben so I knew it already,” he said. “It was nothing new for me.

“It’s difficult to compare. It’s different types of players because there are different coaches, who play a different type of football.

“But of course the intensity at the highest level, it’s the same at Bayern Munich and Liverpool.

“When you want to be a top team, you have to be on the highest level to make your best performances but to compare both teams is difficult.”