Jurgen Klopp has come in defense of Arsenal player Mesut Ozil, calling criticism of his international retirement ‘absolute nonsense’. Ozil announced his international retirement last month and his statement caused widespread criticism. However, there were people who defended Ozil and Klopp adds himself to the list.
Klopp believes that Ozil has been the victim of politics. He said, “In politics, little things have always been blown up and big things pushed away in order to continue. Normally, intelligent people tend to hold back because it is not easy to say the right thing. I would count myself too. All those who have no idea are loud in these conversations.
Ozil and Ilkay Gundogan both attracted criticism because of a picture with Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Regarding the photograph incident, Klopp said, “I don’t doubt these guys, at least about their loyalty to our homeland. The difference is that they have one more thing (in their heritage)… that’s beautiful.
“Cultural diversity, we all thought it was cool around the (Germany-hosted) 2006 World Cup… now two guys are seduced by politically intelligent people to have a photo, and then have relatively few opportunities to say what they want 100 per cent right. That’s why I find this discussion hypocritical. Bad things happened because people were not informed properly. Even the media should not create a buzz around something like this every day. Just cool off and see the people behind it.”
