It’s only a game.
A beautiful game. An attritional game. But a game.
We like to pretend like it’s war, like the way a game of football moves around a patch of grass is important but what happened to Sean Cox on his way to a game is just plain crazy.
The Liverpool fan travelled over from Meath on Tuesday to cheer on his side in the Champions League semi-final but never even made it into the stadium after he was attacked by Roma supporters and left in a critical condition.
On Friday, ahead of the league game against Stoke, Jurgen Klopp was still shocked at how or why this would happen.
“Around the stadium, nobody should be thinking about anything else other than the game,” he said in his press conference after being asked more questions about the Sean Cox incident.
“Behave. It’s easy to say. Behave.
“Behave like you want to be treated yourself. If you are alone on the street or whatever, you want to feel safe.
“I really don’t like that part of football. I can’t understand it.”
Klopp wore a Liverpool pin in the colour of the Irish flag on his jumper as a touching message of support and solidarity for Sean Cox who had to undergo surgery for the injuries he sustained.
He had travelled over to the game with his brother when he was set upon.
Club captain Jordan Henderson paid a nice tribute to Cox as well by stating the only result him or any of the players care about is that the Irish man makes a full recovery.
Jurgen Klopp meanwhile offered his thoughts and prayers.
“The game on Tuesday showed the beauty of the game, what happened before was ugly face,” the manager said.
“When I heard, I can’t describe my emotions. It should never happen. It’s unbelievable. All our thoughts & prayers are with Sean Cox and his family.
“It should never have happened. It shouldn’t have before and shouldn’t happen in the future.”
