'Plenty of chances to say process is not right': Klopp slams journalists for not taking a stronger stance against Qatar World Cup

Jurgen Klopp has slammed the media for not doing enough to cover the human rights abuses leading up to the Qatar World Cup and the corruption scandal that led to the host country's selection in the first place.

"Journalists should have done more. Do you really think we did enough in the first place? You are now making a story when it has happened, coming out of the corner and getting the players under pressure with questions.

"If Harry Kane says he will wear [the armband], the other guys say 'please don't make political statements'. It's not OK.

"This was organised by other people, and I don't say you let it happen but we all let it happen. Everything was on the table.

"There are wonderful people there as well and it is not that everything is bad, but how it happened was just not right in the first place," Klopp added.

"It was already clear what would happen and now it is 'oh yeah, it is difficult to build a stadium in Qatar because we have to do it in their summer as well and it is 50 degrees'. That's not good for humans to be outside and do hard, physical work.

"There were plenty of chances afterwards to say, 'by the way, the process is not right'. A lot of people took money for the wrong reasons. Nothing changed. How can that happen?"

He also added: "It's a tournament and players go there and do their best for their countries".

"I watch it from a football point of view and I don't like the fact that the players, from time to time, get in a situation where they have to send a message," he said.

"You are all journalists, you should have sent a message and you didn't write the most critical article about it.

"It is all not OK for the players, I really have to say. But it is here and we all let it happen.

"I will watch games, of course, but it is different to other World Cups."

Source: BBC