adminLONDON. — Manchester United’s hopes of landing top transfer target Marco Reus have been boosted after cracks started opening up in Jurgen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund empire. Rocked by injuries to key players, Dortmund have dropped out of the title race in Germany and are no longer even Bayern Munich’s biggest threat, after surrendering second place to Bayer Leverkusen.
Though there is no suggestion of his job being under threat, the dramatic about-turn in Klopp’s fortunes is beginning to affect his mood, with the ready smile of old replaced by a scowl in recent weeks.
Dortmund appeared to be almost neck-and-neck with Bayern over the past couple of seasons, after winning the Bundesliga title and then going all the way to the Champions’ League final, where they lost out to their great rivals at Wembley last May.
But they are off the pace this season, and it all became too much for Klopp after they slipped further behind with a 2-2 draw at Hoffenheim at the weekend.
After being quizzed about more dropped points, in a tetchy post-match press conference, a reporter who has known Klopp for a decade asked him about an incident in which Reus accidentally barged into the fourth official and sent him flying, just yards away from where the Dortmund coach was standing.
Bizarrely, Klopp asked him which paper he represented, despite being on first-name terms with him for years and knowing he has always worked for Germany’s top-selling daily Bild.
When the reporter replied, Klopp snarled: ‘You must lead a very dirty, unclean life, in that case.’
Bild replied with a highly-critical editorial the following day, and while spats between managers and newspapers are nothing new, Klopp’s unprovoked outburst is being seen as a sign he may be starting to lose his grip on affairs at the Westfalenstadion. — Mailonline.
Online Reporter