Jurgen Klopp On Firing Of Leicester Manager Claudio Ranieri: ‘As Strange As Trump And Brexit’

Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has claimed the firing of Leicester City boss Claudio Ranieri ranks alongside Brexit and the election of Donald Trump as one of the most incomprehensible decisions of the past year.

Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp on Firing of Leicester Boss Claudio Ranieri: Strange

Ranieri was dismissed on Thursday. Leicester, who will be led by Craig Shakespeare and first-team coach Mike Stowell until a new manager is appointed, will next host Liverpool on Monday.

The 65-year-old Italian manager’s firing is especially stunning given that it comes just nine months after Leicester won the Premier League.

“What can I say? Am I surprised that things like this can happen? No. It is not only football,” German Klopp said at a press conference early Friday. “For me there have been a few strange decisions in 16/17: Brexit, Trump, Ranieri. Do I have to understand it all the time? Obviously not. I have no idea why Leicester did this. Everyone could see the situation in the league, the situation in the Champions League – which we are not in.”

Klopp continued, praising Ranieri as an agreeable man: “He is a really special person in this business, a really nice guy. I met him before when he visited me at Dortmund and we had a nice talk. He is a wonderful person. Maybe you have to go to Leicester and ask them why they did it. I told the players at the beginning of the week Leicester now know exactly what the problem is and we should expect the best Leicester City. You saw the Champions League game and the reaction after they scored: it was like two different games before and after they scored. Obviously they needed this goal to get confidence back. We have to think about this side and that is difficult enough.”

Despite reports of issues between the Italian and Leicester players, Klopp does not believe a manager with experience as vast as Ranieri’s would likely change his ways following last year’s Premier League title win.

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho, who attended Friday’s news conference with a training shirt bearing the initials ‘CR’ in solidarity with Ranieri, also spoke highly of the newly-fired manager.

“My words are my shirt with his name. It is my little homage to somebody that write the most beautiful history of the Premier League,” said Mourinho. “Somebody that deserves the Leicester stadium to be named Claudio Ranieri and he is sacked. Leicester made history two years in a row, one year because they did the most beautiful thing in the Premier League and one of most in football history, now they are also in the highlights with the decision that I think has everyone in football united because it is something very, very difficult to accept.

“It is good to realise how football is, and we need to adapt to it. I thought last season when I was sacked as a champion it was a giant negative thing, now I realise it was peanuts to what happened with Claudio.

Caption:LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – MARCH 10: Jurgen Klopp, manager of Liverpool celebrates victory with Divock Origi of Liverpool after the UEFA Europa League Round of 16 first leg match between Liverpool and Manchester United at Anfield on March 10, 2016 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)