Neymar’s defended for threatrics

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has jumped to Neymar’s defence insisting that his diving is a normal part of the game.

Neymar and his Paris Saint-Germain teammates play at Liverpool in the Champions League on Tuesday amid fresh criticism over the forward’s exaggerated reactions after being fouled. The Brazil international, who was booked for going down easily under minimal contact in a friendly last week against the United States, apologized after the World Cup for some of his theatrics in Russia.

“I don’t follow things like that but when I saw a few games at the World Cup I know people were talking about him making more of situations. For me they were completely normal reactions [from Neymar] because players were going for him and he wanted to protect himself. I understand that. I thought it is smart that he saves himself,” Klopp said.

“We won’t go for him like that. We want play football and we want to win the ball. We will try to avoid passes to him but it is a big job to do. It is impossible to avoid his qualities 100%. He is a fantastic player and at the World Cup he was not 100% fit. Nobody asked him about that but he took responsibility to play for his country while not 100% fit. If Neymar is fit then Brazil wins it.”

“I don’t think he is a person who wants to act like that because you can’t play football like he does if you are acting like that. He was rested at the weekend so he will be 100% fresh for us and we will see the full Neymar package.”

Neymar will be making the trip to Anfield for his most high-profile game since the World Cup.

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