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Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has defended Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's decision to field a weaker side for Manchester United's clash against Leicester City on Tuesday.
Manchester United were set to host Liverpool earlier this month but the game was postponed after supporters stormed Old Trafford in a protest against the club's owners.
The derby against Liverpool was rescheduled to Thursday. This means that the Red Devils will have to play three Premier League games in the space of five days.
After going away to Aston Villa on Sunday, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer fielded a weak Manchester United starting XI in their 2-1 home defeat to Leicester on Tuesday. The Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp, however, defended the decision of his fellow manager, saying he would have done the same thing if the roles were reversed.
"It was the line-up I expected (against Leicester). Not exactly, but I knew he had to make changes," said the Reds boss. "They play Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and I said it 500 times, to play Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday is a crime and that is not the fault of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and the players," said Klopp.
"My question to myself is would I have done the same? Yes, you have to. We are late in the season, Manchester United went to the Europa League final and that means a lot of games and now you get Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday games," noted Klopp.
Liverpool are to blame for failure to qualify for Champions League, not Manchester United: Klopp
The postponement of the clash between Manchester United and Liverpool could have seen the Merseyside outfit's game against West Brom brought forward in place of the derby.
However, West Brom did not accept the proposal and the Premier League insisted that no other team should be impacted by the rescheduled game.
Klopp has said he was open to bringing the West Brom game forward and playing Manchester United at a later time. However, since that scenario was not a possibility, the Liverpool boss insisted that Manchester United are not to blame for his side's failure to qualify for the Champions League.
"Let me say it like this - that didn’t work out pretty well. But if we don’t go to the Champions League, it is not the fault of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's team selection or the Premier League, it is our fault," said Klopp.
"I am not the guy doing the schedule but when we thought about how it could work out when the game got cancelled, there was no Tuesday-Thursday game. The explanation from the Premier League was that no other team should suffer because of the things that happened in Manchester," said Klopp.
