Klopp sees ´no reason´ for Lineker to step back from Match of the Day duties

Jurgen Klopp believes there was “no reason” for the BBC to tell Gary Lineker to step aside from hosting Match of the Day after the presenter became involved in a political row on social media.

The BBC announced on Friday that Lineker would not be involved in this week’s edition of the hugely popular British football show after the former striker criticised the UK government’s new asylum policy on Twitter.

Lineker compared the language being used by current politicians to that expressed in Germany in the 1930s.

In the aftermath of the BBC’s announcement, several big-name pundits including Ian Wright and Alan Shearer said they would not appear on the show out of solidarity with Lineker, forcing the BBC to air Saturday’s episode without a studio team.

Asked about the row after Liverpool’s 1-0 Premier League defeat at Bournemouth on Saturday, Klopp outlined his view that Lineker’s message was an acceptable one.

“How I understand it, I am not a native… but I cannot see any reason why you would ask someone to step back for saying that. I can’t,” Klopp said.

“I’m not sure if it’s a language issue or not, but I can’t find it. But that’s the world we are living in. Everybody is so concerned about doing things in the right manner, saying the right stuff to everybody.

“If you don’t do that, you create a s***storm, which we didn’t have when we were young. It’s a really difficult world to live in.

“If I understand it right, then this is a message or opinion about human rights, and that should be possible to say.

“I don’t understand the social media part of it, but I’m probably too old for that. But apart from that, no. If I got it right, there’s no reason, for me.”

In response to the government’s asylum policy, Lineker had posted: “There is no huge influx. We take far fewer refugees than other major European countries. This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s, and I’m out of order?”

Everybody knows what Match of the Day means to me, but I’ve told the BBC I won’t be doing it tomorrow. Solidarity.

— Ian Wright (@IanWright0) March 10, 2023