Thought the whole Ramos-Salah incident was forgotten? That does not seem to be the case, as Jurgen Klopp rehashed the controversial topic which saw the Spanish defender become public enemy number one in world football.
The Real Madrid center-back was widely criticized for pulling a judo-esque hold on the Egyptian star in last season's Champions League final. The collision between the attacker and defender left the Premier League ace with a shoulder injury that forced him to leave the final early and miss the beginning of the World Cup.
A petition began to have the Blancos captain banned for his role in Salah's injury while an Egyptian lawyer launched a lawsuit against the Spaniard. Things had quieted down since then but the Reds boss revisited the topic ahead of their International Champions Cup clash with Man United.
The German boss was not pleased with Ramos' reaction to the unfortunate incident which was unapologetic in the former Dortmund boss' eyes. Despite remaining tight-lipped over the incident after the final, Klopp slammed the 32-year-old as "ruthless" and "brutal" for not only the Salah incident but also the elbow to Karius that left the goalkeeper with a concussion.
"We are opening that bottle again? It is action-reaction-action-reaction and I don't like that but – if you watch it back and you are not with Real Madrid – then you think it is ruthless and brutal," the Merseyside tactician said, as per the Guardian.
"I saw the ref taking charge of big games at the World Cup and nobody really thinks about that later. But in a situation like that somebody needs to judge it better. If VAR is coming then it is a situation where you have to look again. Not to give a red card but to look again and say: 'What is that?' It was ruthless.
"I'm not sure it is an experience we will have again – go there and put an elbow to the goalkeeper, put their goalscorer down like a wrestler in midfield and then you win the game. That was the story of the game. Ramos said a lot of things afterward that I didn't like. As a person, I didn't like the reactions of him. He was like: 'Whatever, what do they want? It's normal.' No, it is not normal.
"If you put all of the situations of Ramos together then you will see a lot of situations with Ramos. The year before against Juve he was responsible for the red card for [Juan] Cuadrado. Nobody talks about that afterward. It is like we, the world out there, accepts that you use each weapon to win the game. People probably expect that I am the same. I am not."
Klopp went on to say that players would usually be banned for four to five weeks for what Sergio committed and insisted the luck had been on their side in the Kyiv encounter. Whether Ramos will respond to these comments remain unknown, but knowing the Spaniard, it should not take too long before a fiery response comes Jurgen's way.
