Jürgen Klopp defends Bayern-trio axed by Joachim Löw

Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp gave his opinion of the axing of Thomas Müller, Mats Hummels, and Jerome Boateng when he spoke to Goal.com before the second leg of Liverpool's Round of 16 matchup against FC Bayern Munich. He is nervous that Hummels and Boateng will be looking to capitalize on the big stage of Champions League to prove Löw wrong.

The only possibility for me is to think about how I’d react. I was never in contention for the national team but if something like this happened to you when you are young, fit and healthy then I think I would try to show it was a mistake.

Besides fearing the repercussions of Joachim Löw’s decision, Klopp seems to side with the Bayern-trio, and thinks that they should at least have a chance to qualify for the team, but admits that he doesn’t have all the facts.

I know that all three would love to play for Germany, that’s how it is. With all the decisions a manager has to make, it’s always 50/50 – some like them, some don’t like them. The difference between a national coach and a club coach is if I say to a player here that he cannot play anymore then he can look for another club. In this case you cannot look for another country!

I don’t know the reasons exactly 100 per cent but what I would say is it is difficult to take the opportunity away for a player to qualify for a national team. I didn’t hear about a lot of similar situations.

A centre-half at 30 years is nothing, so age cannot really be a reason. Other reasons, I don’t know. If you are a player and you don’t really retire by yourself there should still be an opportunity to qualify for the national team. That’s my opinion but I am not in the situation.

If you tell a player, ‘You stay at home, I don’t invite you – I am not happy with your performances’ or whatever, then that’s the 100 per cent right of the national team. But if it is ‘Whatever you do, it won’t be enough to be in the national team again’ it’s not like it should sound

Klopp is most likely thankful that Müller will miss this match as he is suspended for the second straight Champions League game against Liverpool.