Jurgen Klopp destroyed the Liverpool owners on Sky Sports over European Super League, according to Gary Neville

• UEFA threatens World Cup bans
• New Champions League format explained
• Why are Arsenal and Spurs involved?

Back in 2019, Klopp was public in his criticism of Super League proposals, saying: "I hope this Super League will never happen. With the way the Champions League is now running, football has a great product, even with the Europa League. For me, the Champions League is the Super League, in which you do not always end up playing against the same teams. Of course, it's economically important, but why should we create a system where Liverpool faces Real Madrid for 10 straight years? Who wants to see that every year?"

Reminded of those quotes by Sky Sports ahead of Liverpool game at Leeds, Klopp responded: "My opinion didn't change. Obviously I heard for the first time about it yesterday, and trying to prepare a game, a very difficult game against Leeds, and I knew so far we got some information, not a lot to be honest.

"It's a tough one. People are not happy about it, and I can understand that, but I cannot say a lot more about it because we were not involved in any processes, not the players not me, we didn't know about it. That's the case or the fact, the facts are out there. We will have to wait to see how it develops.

"The most important part of football are the supporters and the team. And we have to make sure that nothing gets in-between that. I heard they put banners down at Anfield, and I don't understand that because the players did not do anything wrong.

"We have to stick together and when other people from other clubs use our anthem against us I don't like that as well so we can show that nobody has to walk alone in this moment. There are things we have to sort, but nothing to do with the football, nothing to do with the relationship between the supporters and the team, that's for me really important. Because in tough times you have to show you really stick together. That doesn't mean you have to agree to anything, but the boys didn't do anything wrong, apart from not winning more football games."

Reflecting on Klopp's remarks, Sky Sports pundit Neville concluded: "Jurgen Klopp has come out tonight, and done it in a very calm fashion which he has to do from the position he is in, and he has destroyed his club's owners on national television."

Klopp also emphasised the importance of the “competitive factor of football”.

“I am 53 years old and since I was a professional player the Champions League was there,” he said.

“My aim was always, as a player it was not possible, but as a manager my aim was always to coach a team there.

“I have no issues with the Champions League, I like the competitive factor of football.

“I like the fact that West Ham might play in the Champions League next year, I don’t want them to because we want to do that, but I like that they have the chance.”

Leeds players warmed up for tonight’s match wearing T-shirts bearing the message ‘Football is for the fans’, but that didn't go down well with Klopp.

He said: "I heard already there are warm-up shirts over there. We will not wear them. If somebody thinks they need to remind us that we need to earn the right to go to the Champions League that is a real joke and it makes me angry.

"If they put it in our dressing room, if it was a Leeds idea, thank you very much. Nobody has to remind us, maybe they should remind themselves."

Klopp understands fan fury

On how the football fans across Europe are responding to the news, Klopp said: "I understand it, but I am in a different position. I don't have all the information, I don't exactly know why the 12 clubs did it. I know some things will change in the future, in football some things have to change in the future, that's for sure as well. The power, where the power is, and stuff like this, that's not right.

"Everybody plans new competitions, UEFA showed me the new competition and I said 'I don't like it' months ago, because of more games. I don't expect they don't do it just because I don't like it. It's always more games, more games. If you tell the clubs it's about more money, what do you think it's about with UEFA?

"The Club World Cup, whenever that should happen, it's about money nothing else. So all these things happen.

"But usually you have to prepare these kind of things, but one thing I can understand that the people think is not right is the competitiveness. I get that, I said that before, I might not like that we will not be in the Champions League [next season if they don't finish in top four], but if we earn it we want to be there like anybody else."

Neville and Carragher urge football to unite

Jamie Carragher and Neville offered more strong views about the European Super League clubs, with the former Liverpool defender saying: "What I would say is this is not Liverpool, Man Utd, Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City. This is John Henry and FSG, Roman Abramovich, Sheikh Mansour, Malcolm Glazer, Stan Kronke, Daniel Levy, these are the people to blame for this.

"What they're doing is dragging institutions that we've seen in this country for more than a hundred years, basically through the mud, burning the history of what those clubs are about.

"From my own club's point of view, the only reason Liverpool are in this or have a chance to be in it, is because they've won six European Cups and 20 titles - only one each have come from FSG. They used Liverpool's history, going back to Bill Shankly and before that, to get into the league and line their own pockets.

"The biggest thing for me and the football world, in terms of everybody being against it tonight, Jurgen Klopp has spoken on this in 2019 and made his stance very clear. If Liverpool lose their manager on the back of this in the next 12 months or so, those owners will be run out of the club in a week, I can assure you of that.

"This ownership bought Liverpool on the back of other American owners running the club badly, and the fans got them out. They got the club for a steel, it's now worth six or seven times more. They've made their money, they've won the lottery with Liverpool. My message to everyone is that I think these clubs think this is a deal, it's done. I don't think it is.

"I think supporters up and down this country can fix this. I think at the forefront of that will be Liverpool, because I've seen it before. We have tribalism in this country, rivalry, that's what makes the game. Football fans get together, all of us, in TV, pundits, players, managers, and stop this - it can be stopped, I'm convinced of it. Going forward, I think what we need is marches on stadiums, supporters getting together; this cannot be allowed to happen."

Neville said: "I stayed pretty quiet in terms of the Glazer family over the years. I stayed quiet because when the club were taken over as a PLC, you knew it could be bought and it was out of the control of everybody, a completely different market, generally in life, and I always thought, ‘What’s the answer to the Glazers? Who takes them out, Russia, China, state money, for the two or three billion quid it would need?’.

“I’ve stayed quiet on the basis that it’s still Man United, I can still watch the lads play, I can be happy and I can be sad, I’m still watching football in this country.

“If they take dividends out, all right, it’s dividends, I can live with it slightly. What I can’t live with is attacking every single football fan in this country. They have stepped over the mark, they are scavengers and they need booting out of this football club and booting out of this country. We have got to come together now, it might be too late.

“There will be people at Man United, fans that were arguing 15 years ago that will say it’s too late, but it’s never too late. We have got to stop this. It is absolutely critical we do.

“I’m enthused by the reaction of Government, by royalty, by the whole of football and by the fans.

“These owners have pushed through difficult things in the past for these clubs. (Daniel) Levy is steel-like, the Glazers are steel-like, (Roman) Abramovich is as hard as nails and he won’t care in terms of criticism – it will change football in this country forever.

“We have to now mobilise, organise. It is difficult not to get emotional and feel sick, but you have got to write to your MPs, local football clubs.

“Everyone has got to come behind this. Pundits for BBC, ITV, BT Sport, forget allegiances, forget who you support. We have got to come together to stop this proposal.

“This is an attack on everything that has been important in this country. Football has helped in the last 10 months in the midst of a pandemic to keep people going and they are trying to take it away from us.”