Klopp plays down prospect of retrospective titles for Liverpool after Manchester City's guilty verdict

Jurgen Klopp has distanced himself from suggestions Liverpool could be retrospectively awarded Premier League titles in the wake of Manchester City's guilty verdict.

It was confirmed on Tuesday that an independent commission had found City guilty on the vast majority of the 115 charges brought against them by the Premier League. The charges, which were made in 2023, relate to breaches of the league's financial rules across a nine-year period between 2009 and 2018, with City's breaches found to amount to around £900m. During that window City won three Premier League titles, paving the way for the era of dominance under Pep Guardiola that followed.

One of the closest title races came immediately afterwards: in 2018-19, City won their fourth Premier League crown — and their second under Guardiola — by finishing a single point ahead of Klopp's Liverpool. That sparked a thrilling rivalry between City and the Reds, with Liverpool winning the title in 2020 and pushing Guardiola's juggernaut close again in 2022.

With a plethora of punishments open to the commission at an upcoming sanctions hearing — including suggestions City could have titles stripped — Klopp is not expecting a retrospective winners' medal to arrive in the post.

"I haven't given it much thought, even though I've seen it of course," said the Germany head coach. "Should any sanctions be imposed, I naturally have nothing to do with it anyway, and that's why I'm waiting to see how things pan out. But when you're talking about legal proceedings that have been going on for so long now, I assume there will be an appeal or something like that? That will take ages again of course."

"So I'm a long way from preparing myself for it in any way and I don't have any feelings about it."

City insist they are innocent and are expected to appeal the verdict, meaning any final resolution — including whatever sanctions the commission imposes — could still be years away.

The first on-field chapter of the fallout arrives soon: City's next Premier League outing is against Liverpool at Anfield on October 11.