Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp not expecting sports boycotts to reach UK in aftermath of Jacob Blake shooting

A series of major sporting fixtures in the United States have been postponed in the last two days as athletes protest

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp (PA)

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is not expecting the boycotting of sports events over racial injustice to spread to the UK.

A series of major fixtures in the United States have been postponed in the last two days after NBA stars began boycotting games in protest of the police shooting of black American Jacob Blake in Wisconsin last week.

Games in Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, the National Hockey League and the WNBA have also been called off.

Klopp was asked about the matter as he held a press conference to preview the Premier League champions’ season-opening Community Shield clash against Arsenal on Saturday.

Klopp said: “Whatever actions they take there, they will have their reasons for it and I don’t see them at the moment coming in England, but we have to see.

“It is a worldwide issue, but – at the moment for some specific cases – they are thinking about proper actions in America, because another thing happened that shouldn’t have happened.

“That is why the players there do what they do, but I don’t see it coming at the moment in England.”

The NBA issued a statement on Thursday saying it was hoping “to resume games either Friday or Saturday”.

There have since been reports that players have agreed to return to action.

PA