“The Champions League—if I was Liverpool, I would kick it into touch.”



It was inevitable that Jurgen Klopp would swiftly and surgically dismiss Gary Neville’s advice. The Manchester United legend and television pundit had suggested that in order to leverage an advantage in the tilt for the Premier League title, the Merseysiders needed to sacrifice Europe’s top competition this season.



“How should that work?” Klopp asked reporters when Neville’s comments were raised in his press conference. “What do we do? We don’t play Champions League or what? Gary should come over and tell me exactly how that would work.”



“How do you prepare a game and not focus on it? You bring your kids in the Champions League? That would be funny!



“I don’t know what he means with that, to be honest. We have to play football. A lot of people watch our games when we play Champions League and...