Young Barcelona midfielder Riqui Puig, who the club have very high hopes for, has claimed he doesn’t like Jurgen Klopp’s football.
Liverpool’s German manager is lauded throughout Europe for how pleasing his all-action, combative style of football is on the eye – as it involves pressing, short passing, dribbling, midfield linkup, crosses and everything we like to see on a football field.
But Puig doesn’t think it’s on a par with the football played by his team and Manchester City, among others.
“I really like Barça and I hope I stay here for many years,” he said, as reported by Barca Centre on Twitter.
“I like, apart from Barça, how Manchester City, Girona and Ajax play.
“If I like how Liverpool play? No, because I prefer the tiki-taka style.”
We wonder if Puig would think the same if he re-watched Liverpool’s 4-0 demolition of Barca at Anfield not long back…
On that evening, the Catalans didn’t get a sniff and couldn’t deal with our quick-thinking in their third.
What’s more, in the first-leg, when Barcelona won 3-0, Liverpool actually had more possession – so Puig’s idea is more about Pep Guardiola’s archive Barca side than Ernesto Valverde’s functional one!
We honestly would prefer to watch Liverpool than any side in Europe – which is quite fortunate considering we get to do it a few times every week.