Xherdan Shaqiri: Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp insists winger's safety was not at risk

Jurgen Klopp has insisted that there were no security reasons behind leaving Xherdan Shaqiri at home for Liverpool’s Champions League trip to Red Star Belgrade, claiming the decision simply “common sense”.

Shaqiri was born in Kosovo, is of Kosovan-Albanian heritage and provoked controversy at the World Cup for his celebration after scoring a late winner for Switzerland against Serbia.

The winger made a ‘double-headed eagle’ gesture, referencing the national symbol of Albania. Kosovo is majority Albanian and tensions within the province between Albanian and Serbian populations have long existed.

The celebration angered football authorities in Serbia and eventually led to Fifa fining Shaqiri for “unsporting behaviour”. Granit Xhaka and Stephan Lichtsteiner, his Switzerland team-mates, were also fined for making the same ‘eagle’ gesture.

Shaqiri could have expected a hostile reception had he travelled to Belgrade and played at the Rajko Mitić Stadium, renowned for its intimidating atmosphere, though Klopp’s decision to omit the winger from his squad entirely still came as a surprise.

The Liverpool manager said on Monday night that fears for Shaqiri’s safety were never behind his decision. Instead, he had hoped to turn the attention away from politics and onto the game at hand.

“Absolutely not aware of any security issues or whatever,” Klopp said. “The only thing that I can say about it was that it was common sense. It was common sense to just make the decision, not to force anything.

“We come here wanting to play football. If he came here now and was involved then all the questions would be about him. I’m surprised the questions in here are about it, but out there with the Serbian guys all the questions would be about the situation.

“That makes no sense. We have to concentrate on football. We have to focus on football. That’s what we want to do and that is why I made that decision.

“Politics always has always influence on life, on the life I live at least, and that’s how it is,” he added. “But we are not here for that, we are here to play football. We tried to make sure we can be focused on football.

“It could have been a story but we didn’t want to have a story besides a football story. That’s why we decided what we decided.”

Klopp’s decision has been welcomed by Red Star officials, who were wary that a volatile atmosphere on Tuesday night could potentially lead to ugly scenes and punishment from Uefa.

Zvezdan Terzic, the Serbian champions said in September that though his club would do everything in their power to protect Shaqiri, he would feel “smaller than a poppy seed” if he played.

Red Star supporters have already fallen foul of authorities this year. Away supporters were banned from attending the meeting at Anfield a fortnight ago after Red Star fans caused disturbances during this season’s Champions League qualifying rounds.

Shaqiri, meanwhile, has accepted the decision, according to Klopp. When asked what was said when the 27-year-old heard the news, Klopp claimed Shaqiri replied with a simple: “OK, boss.”

“I took a lot of times in my life a decision about playing squad and so far the players always accepted it,” the Liverpool manager added.

“I constantly have to make decisions that I never expected before that I have to make these kind of decisions. I was confronted with that and that is the decision. That is all.”