Klopp hits out at modern players' workload as games begin to pile up for Reds

Jurgen Klopp has slammed football's governing bodies for refusing to consider the welfare of professional footballers, insisting they care more for money than they do players.

Liverpool made it through to the Carabao Cup quarter-finals after beating Arsenal on penalties after a 5-5 draw but their progress has now led to severe fixture congestion.

They have been drawn to face Aston Villa in the last eight but that fixture - set to be played on December 17 or 18 - clashes with the Club World Cup in Qatar, which Liverpool are committed to appearing in after winning the Champions League in June.

It has sparked a hectic winter period for the Reds with them expected to compete in five competitions between December and February.

Speaking before Liverpool's trip to Aston Villa, Klopp said: ‘It is obvious that it is too much (workload of players). Everybody in the game would tell you that and you know it as well. But it’s still “yeah, let’s have a look at how they deal with it” but that’s how it is.

'If you see the schedule which is coming up it’s all ok. Premier League, what a competition, sensationally cool but then Carabao Cup, nice competition obviously what a wonderful game we had on Wednesday night but then still at the end of January, after a very busy schedule in December, there are two semi-finals.

'It is an easy decision for me to say “if you keep that competition why make the semi-finals two legs?” and then we still have in February, March and April FA Cup games at the weekend. I’m four years in and people discussed it already. England is the only country where nobody really wants to touch it is or maybe they want to but don’t discuss it.

'And then on top of that UEFA decides to make the Nations League to give more to the players who are already pretty busy. I said that before and it always sounds like it is my problem but it is not. I am not involved in the nations league or any international games.

'I discuss it from the same perspective like you should discuss it but you don’t, you only report what I say. As long as it stays like this with no pressure on anybody we have the same situation and look why the best players in the world cannot perform at the highest level for as long as we wish for because they get bad injuries.

'But then people say you need a bigger squad but the game is not made for bigger squads. You cannot have 40-player squads and send 20 of them off until January.

'That’s not possible. It’s an imbalance between the number of players in a squad, the competitions you have to play and a big gap between the breaks the boys usually need and get.

'If you play in every big competition you get two weeks off. The likes of (Sadio) Mane, (Mo) Salah, (Jordan) Henderson, all these guys. They have two weeks off a year with a physically demanding job with pressure as well on every game.

That is clear, the solutions are possible but there is not one day FIFA, UEFA or the leagues have to sit at a table and discuss it and think about the players rather than their wallet. We always discuss it on the back of the money we earn. That doesn’t make us stronger or resilient. We will play all these games with everything we have but somebody has to think about how many games it will be.'