The Liverpool boss was full of praise for Sterling’s actions
Jurgen Klopp has praised Raheem Sterling after his statement on the alleged racist abuse that he received on Saturday at Stamford Bridge during Manchester City’s first loss of the season to Chelsea.
Sterling received a barrage of abuse from a group of Chelsea fans during the game, and posted a statement on Instagram the next day, explaining that some newspapers’ coverage of black footballers’ private lives can “help fuel” racism that we see in the stands.
Chelsea FC and the FA are both investigating the incident that occurred on Saturday afternoon.
Klopp has since praised the way Sterling handled the situation.
The German coach told reporters: “I watched the game and I think I saw the situation where he went for the corner and a few guys where shouting.
“I didn’t hear, I don’t know if it was possible to, but I thought his reaction was just brilliant. You saw his face. He gave the right response not to react to these people.
“They don’t deserve any reaction, they don’t deserve any respect. I am obviously not surprised that these things still happen and they will not stop only because we talk about them, but I like the fact that we put the finger on it and say ‘you cannot say what you want’.
“We had similar situations in Germany and other countries, Italy with [Kevin Prince] Boateng when he stopped the game because of the things people shouted from the stands.
“There need to be punishments for things like this. As long as people are silly enough to do this, they need to be punished for it, that’s how it is.
“What I like is, I am sure 95 per cent of people are not like this so we should try to find the right amount of attention for them. Punish them but do not talk too much about them because they do not deserve that we talk about them.”
Despite constant criticism from the tabloid press for the most trivial of issues, Sterling has shown incredible mental strength and resilience to rise to the very top and become one of the best forwards in world football.
