Xherdan Shaqiri will play no part in Liverpool's upcoming trip to Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League. The English Premier League giant revealed this on Monday morning, confirming initial reports that the attacker will be left out due to political tension.
The Swiss ace is of Kosovan-Albanian heritage. The history of tension between the Albanians and Serbians is something that the Reds are wary of and are keen to avoid when they travel to the Red Star Stadium on Tuesday.
The 27-year-old recently angered the Balkan nation when he scored the winning goal in Switzerland's 2-1 World Cup triumph at Russia 2018. He celebrated his strike by making a nationalist eagle symbol with his hands, which did not sit well with the Serbian FA and resulted in a fine from FIFA.
Speaking ahead of Tuesday's trip, Jurgen Klopp revealed his logic for leaving their summer signing behind. The German boss stressed that he did not want any non-football related issue distracting his players from this European clash.
"It's a situation where we will go to the fantastic city of Belgrade as a football team to play football," Klopp told Liverpool's official website.
"We have heard and read the speculation and talk about what kind of reception Shaq would receive and although we have no idea what would happen, we want to go there and be focused 100 percent on football and not have to think about anything else, that's all.
"We are Liverpool FC, a big club, a football team but we don't have any message further than that. We have no political message, absolutely not. We want the focus to be on a great game of football, free from anything else.
"We are keen to be respectful and keen to avoid any distractions that would take focus away from a 90-minute-plus contest that is important for football and only football. So for that reason, Shaq is not involved and he accepts and understands this. Shaq is our player, we love him, and he will play for us a lot of times, but not on Tuesday.
"I have heard so many wonderful things about the city of Belgrade, and the country of Serbia as a whole, from friends and colleagues who've visited before, so now I'm really looking forward to taking Liverpool there for a great game of Champions League football."
Red Star's sporting director Zvezdan Terzic previously stated that the club would do everything in their power to ensure the player's safety but hinted that it might be wise to leave him out. The Merseyside giant will thus be without the former Stoke ace who has contributed to three goals in seven appearances in the Premier League.
