Jürgen Klopp, the manager of the German national team, has responded to the criticism from Virgil van Dijk, the captain of the Netherlands national team, regarding the goal the visitors scored during the 1-1 draw in Amsterdam yesterday, Thursday, in the opening round of the UEFA Nations League.
Speaking inpress commentsafter the match, Klopp hit back at Van Dijk's description of the goal as a "disgrace", after Germany's players declined to put the ball out to allow treatment of the Netherlands forward Brian Brobbey. He said: "It certainly was not a disgrace, the goal was completely legitimate. I do not feel any pang of conscience. If it had happened to us, I would have asked my players to keep playing."
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The German coach went on: "The rules say that it is the referee who stops play, not the players. And especially when you are on the defending side, you must keep playing, and they did not do that, and we exploited it very well, through an excellent attack. There was a good cross, a good run, and Felix (Nmecha) was where he needed to be, and then he fired the ball into the net."
He added: "It certainly was not a scandal, but when you are caught up in the emotions of the moment, you are allowed to say anything," in reference to the comments of his former player at Liverpool.
The match ended level after Cody Gakpo scored for the Netherlands in the second minute of second-half stoppage time, pouncing on a superb pass from the substitute Ruben van Bommel.
Klopp praised the pass with a joke: "I have to say it was a wonderful pass from Van Bommel. He did not get this skill from his father (Mark van Bommel). He must have got the way of using the outside of the foot from his mother."
The draw came in Klopp's first match at the helm of the German national team's coaching staff. The Netherlands, meanwhile, began their new era under Xavi Hernández.