For attacking player Mohamed Salah, the missed Champions League qualification with Liverpool FC is a shock. "I'm devastated. There is no excuse for it," the Egyptian wrote on Instagram after the 4-1 victory of the English football record champions Manchester United in the catch-up game against Chelsea FC late on Thursday evening.
As a result, coach Jürgen Klopp's team can no longer reach fourth place in the English Premier League on the last matchday. "We had everything we needed to make it to the Champions League this year and we failed," wrote the 30-year-old Salah. Liverpool, who won the Champions League in 2019, are not in the Champions League for the first time in six years.
"That's the bare minimum"
The Reds are six points behind United and four points behind Newcastle United with one game to go before the end of the season. As a result, Klopp's team will finish the Premier League in fifth place and play in the Europa League next season, despite catching up in recent weeks. "We are Liverpool and qualifying for the competition is the bare minimum," wrote the disappointed Salah.
Brazilian Casemiro (6th minute), Anthony Martial (45+6), Bruno Fernandes from the penalty spot (73rd) and Marcus Rashford (78th) scored goals to secure victory for Manchester United, who moved up to third place. City rivals Manchester City have already been confirmed as champions. Chelsea, which could only be shortened by Joao Felix (89th), finds itself after a disastrous season despite high investments only in twelfth place. Germany international Kai Havertz was also unable to do anything at Old Trafford on Thursday until he was substituted in the 64th minute.
The long-time Bundesliga manager Jörg Schmadtke is now to help Klopp with the restructuring of the squad in Liverpool. According to information from the "Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung", Schmadtke will initially work as a transfer consultant for the Reds for three months in the upcoming transfer period and will be officially presented on Friday.
The 59-year-old Schmadtke (59) was most recently managing director at VfL Wolfsburg for four and a half years. At the end of January, he had given up his office and actually retired. Now he is drawn to the traditional English club. A longer cooperation with Liverpool FC is also not ruled out, the newspaper wrote.
At the same time, Liverpool want to intensify the search for a new sporting director. Also because of the missed participation in the next campaign of the premier class, the team is facing a major upheaval. Schmadtke is now to shape it together with Klopp. There is a lot to do. Not only a Mo Salah will look very closely at how the club positions itself to prevent missing out on the Champions League again.