Jurgen Klopp admitted Roberto Firmino’s World Cup snub was a blow, while he revealed the club is in talks with the Brazilian on a new deal.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp labelled the decision to leave Roberto Firmino out of the Brazil World Cup as “madness” before netting in Saturday’s 3-1 win over Southampton.
Firmino missed the cut for Tite’s 26-man Brazil squad in midweek despite being in his squad for the September friendlies against Ghana and Tunisia.
The Brazilian put that disappointment aside to open the scoring against Saints with a smart header – his 18th headed goal in the Premier League.
But Klopp revealed before the game that the decision affected Firmino and surprised even the German.
“Definitely a morning,” Klopp said. “You couldn’t see it in training, but it certainly did.
“It was [a blow] for me to be honest. I’m happy we have Bobby, but he deserves it. I think he deserves everything to be honest.
“It just shows how unbelievably good and talented this Brazil team is when you can leave out a player like Bobby Firmino. Madness.”
“Of course we’ll talk; we’ve talked before and maybe we’ll talk again. He’s all right, but as anyone can imagine, very disappointed.”
Firmino has scored nine goals and assisted four for the Reds this season, including seven strikes in the Premier League.
Klopp also confirmed that the club and 31-year-old Firmino are in talks over a new deal, with the Brazilian’s current deal set to expire in June 2023.
“There are also normal talks going on, so we’ll see what happens there,” Klopp said.
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