Raheem Sterling: Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says alleged abusers do not deserve 'any respect' if guilty

The Liverpool manager came out in support of Sterling and hailed his reaction to the incident

Jürgen Klopp, the Liverpool manager, has said anyone guilty of racism does not deserve “any respect” after Raheem Sterling was allegedly abused by Chelsea supporters.

Police are currently investigating whether Sterling was abused during the first half of Manchester City’s 2-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge on Saturday while retrieving the ball for a corner.

Sterling did not react to the alleged abuse at the time of the incident, but wrote in an Instagram post on Sunday that he ”had to laugh” as he expected “no better”.

The former Liverpool winger also claimed that British newspapers are helping to “fuel racism” by the manner in which they portray young black footballers.

Klopp hailed Sterling’s mid-game reaction as “brilliant” and insisted that anyone guilty of racially abusing players should be punished by the authorities.

“Well, I watched the game obviously and I saw the situation when Raheem went for the corner,” the Liverpool manager said. “I saw a few guys shouting. I don’t think it was possible to hear what they were shouting, I didn’t hear it.

“I already thought his reaction was just brilliant. You saw his face. He gave the right response – not to react to these people. They haven’t earned any reaction, they don’t deserve any respect or whatever.

“I’m obviously not surprised that things like this still happen. It will not stop now only because we talk about it, but I like the fact that we put a finger on it. You cannot say what you want, it’s not possible.”

Ahead of Liverpool’s meeting with Napoli at Anfield on Tuesday night, Klopp drew a parallel with the treatment of Kevin-Prince Boateng, who walked off the pitch after suffering racist abuse while playing for Milan during a friendly against Pro Patria in 2013.

“We’ve had a similar situation in Germany, in other countries as well. In Italy, with Boateng stopped the game because of what people shouted from the stands,” Klopp said. “They need to be punished. As long as people are silly enough to do stuff like this they need to be punished.

“What I like is that – I’m not sure but 95 per cent or more of the people are not like this, so we should try to find the right amount of tension. Yes, punish them but don’t talk too much about them because they don’t deserve to be talked about.”