Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny has laughed off Jurgen Klopp’s claims that goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher was injured during this summer’s international break.
Liverpool’s backup stopper hasn’t made a single matchday squad this year because of an injury, with his last appearance of any sort coming for his country against Ukraine in June.
Klopp has publicly pointed the finger of blame towards Kenny and his backroom staff, claiming multiple times that the Ireland staff should have picked up Kelleher’s injury and kept him out of training.
The issue has sparked a mild war of words between the two managers, and Kenny did not shy away from landing another blow on his Liverpool counterpart when he announced his latest squad.
“[Dr Alyn Byrne, team doctor] has a reputation from being involved in 200 internationals. They have medical notes, extensive notes, on every injury and we have no notes on Caoimhin from that camp,” Kenny said. “They write everything down and there’s no medical notes, so it’s interesting.
Watch 90min’s UCL review show on YouTube. Harry Symeou hosts Grizz Khan and Buvey to discuss Man City‘s late win over Borussia Dortmund, Liverpool‘s triumph over Ajax and more!
“If Caoimhin did tweak something, we weren’t aware of it. He trained with Liverpool when he went back for pre-season and got injured.”
However, Kenny did do his best to cool tensions between himself and Klopp.
“We’re fine,” he insisted. “We’ve got great respect for Liverpool. I’m sure it’s not an issue and we’ll all move on.”
Kelleher is one of a number of Liverpool players who have been unavailable through injury during this early stage of the season.
Ibrahima Konate, Andy Robertson, Calvin Ramsey, Naby Keita, Thiago, Curtis Jones, Jordan Henderson, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Diogo Jota have all joined the goalkeeper on the sidelines at one point or another, so Klopp will be thankful for the additional rest that comes with the international break.
