Thanks to Jürgen Klopp’s ability to smile in adversity, it already feels perfectly acceptable that his Liverpool team are playing two games in two days. Tonight they face Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup. Tomorrow afternoon they take on Monterrey in the semi-final of the Club World Cup. Given the two competitions are on different continents it was not feasible for Klopp to use the same players, neither could he spread himself that thinly, and so the real Liverpool are in Qatar, in an attempt to win the controversial tournament for the first time. It could be argued that the Liverpool manager has only himself to blame for this “through the looking glass” football schedule and he could have avoided a trip to Asia altogether…

Source: The Times December 17, 2019 17:03 UTC