Cape Town – Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has backed Mesut Ozil after the midfielder received backlash for retiring from international football due to ongoing racist attacks.
The 29-year-old was taunted by Germany supporters and football analyst for his poor performances during the 2018 Soccer World Cup held in Russia during June and July.
The verbal attacks soon became racial as Ozil, who is of Turkish decent, put an end to his Germany career at the end of the tournament and released a lengthy statement on social media.
Klopp has come out in the defence of former Real Madrid playmaker sighting that many people commenting on the issues should not be in those conversations.
"In politics, little things have always been blown up and big things pushed away in order to continue," the Liverpool boss said as quoted by Sky Sport News website.
"Normally, intelligent people tend to hold back because it is not easy to say the right thing. I would count myself too. All those who have no idea are loud in these conversations."
The Arsenal midfielder and Ilkay Gundogan, who is also of Turkish decent, met with Turkey president Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of the World Cup in a public appearance.
"I don't doubt these guys, at least about their loyalty to our homeland. The difference is that they have one more thing (in their heritage)… that's beautiful," Klopp said.
"Cultural diversity, we all thought it was cool around the (Germany-hosted) 2006 World Cup… now two guys are seduced by politically intelligent people to have a photo, and then have relatively few opportunities to say what they want 100 per cent right.
"That's why I find this discussion hypocritical. Bad things happened because people were not informed properly. Even the media should not create a buzz around something like this every day. Just cool off and see the people behind it."
