I remember the moment I fell in love with Jürgen Klopp, the manager of Liverpool. It was upon hearing his response a couple of years ago to a criticism from José Mourinho, then Tottenham manager. After losing to Liverpool, Mourinho complained (sends balls!) What he called Klopp's exaggerated exuberance when he celebrated his team's goals.
Klopp responded with philosophy. He regretted that Mourinho felt offended but life was short, full of disappointments and sorrows, and when joy knocked on the door, the opportunity to celebrate it in style should not be wasted.
A generous spirit, Klopp, I thought. Big heart. Hence my disappointment last Friday when he hinted at an unsuspected petty facet. The German was speaking on the eve of Sunday's classic, his Liverpool against Pep Guardiola's Manchester City. The season had not gone well for Liverpool, he was 13 points behind City, and Klopp began to whimper, precisely in the Mourinho style.
"Nobody can compete with City, it's not possible," he said. “There are three clubs in the world of football that can do what they want financially… It is what it is. Everybody knows. You can't compete with that."
He was referring, of course, to City, Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle United, whose owners are, respectively, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Let's see, my dear Jürgen. Let's see, all the weepers, without excluding certain figures of Spanish football.
First, club-states were not invented yesterday. They are not a phenomenon patented by the Arabs of the Gulf. They exist since the middle of the 20th century. They flourished in Europe in the times of communism and Francoism. Or not?
Second, is there much real difference between being owned by states, or Russian oligarchs, or American investors, like the ones who bought Liverpool? A few million here, a few million there, nothing more.
Third, that Liverpool "can't compete with that"? Already. And Norwich City cannot compete with Liverpool, nor can anyone in Spain compete with Real Madrid or Barcelona. Does anyone believe that Almería could have convinced Goldman Sachs to lend them the necessary millions to be able to pay for Lewandowski and Koundé? No, nobody. Although they compete in the same tournaments, the intrinsic advantage that big clubs have over small ones is as immutable an element of professional football as the size of the goal or the greed of the players and their agents.
Fourth, having a lot of money gives you a certain guarantee that you will be able to participate in European tournaments, but none that you will win them. It's been 14 years since the Gulf states bought Manchester City and ten years since they bought Paris Saint-Germain. Neither of them has yet won the Champions League. In this period, Real Madrid, one of those who are most hysterical about the clubs-State, has won it five times.
Fifth, the greatness of football is that, although money buys you security, it does not buy you trophies. Look at the not-so-distant time when Madrid convinced the authorities of the capital to reclassify their lands, sold them for a foolish thing and bought not a crack but the four most desired players in the world. But not even with Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo and Beckham did they manage to win the Champions League. In the first galactic season, the club-capital fell in the quarterfinals against humble Monaco and finished fourth in the Spanish League.
Oh, and in 2016 neither petrodollars, nor petrorubles, nor funds from American firecrackers could prevent Leicester City from winning the Premier League.
To top it off, the "unable to compete" Liverpool ended up beating Manchester City in the derby. One of Klopp's pre-match regrets had been that City were able to sign scoring beast Erling Håland in the summer. Voucher. But with their Yankee dollars, Liverpool spent almost double what Håland spent on Uruguayan striker Darwin Nuñez.
With which, if Klopp and other privileged complainers want all clubs to be able to compete on equal terms, then let them propose a revolution, an absolutely equitable distribution of the wealth generated by football. If not, shut up.
