Xherdan Shaqiri will not travel to Belgrade due to political tensions

Xherdan Shaqiri will not travel to Serbia for Liverpool’s Champions League clash with Red Star Belgrade.

Explaining the decision not to include Shaqiri’s in the squad for the game, manager Jurgen Klopp told Liverpoolfc.com:

It’s a situation where we will go to the fantastic city of Belgrade as a football team to play football. We have heard and read the speculation and talk about what kind of reception Shaq would receive and although we have no idea what would happen, we want to go there and be focused 100 per cent on football and not have to think about anything else, that’s all. We are Liverpool FC, a big club, a football team but we don’t have any message further than that. We have no political message, absolutely not. We want the focus to be on a great game of football, free from anything else. We are keen to be respectful and keen to avoid any distractions that would take focus away from a 90-minute-plus contest that is important for football and only football. So for that reason, Shaq is not involved and he accepts and understands this. Shaq is our player, we love him, and he will play for us a lot of times, but not on Tuesday.

Shaqiri is not the most popular person in Serbia after his celebration after scoring for Switzerland against Serbia at the World Cup. Shaqiri, who is of Albanian-Kosovan descent, put his hands together to form a double-headed eagle similar to the one on the Albanian flag. Kosovo is a former Serbian province that declared its own independence in 2008.

However, Serbia refuses to recognise Kosovo’s independence and the relations between the two countries is very tense, so Liverpool have decided to leave Shaqiri at home to prevent any distractions.