On the face of it, Jurgen Klopp was a much-beloved character on the red half of Merseyside as Liverpool were in a state of disarray when he arrived from Borussia Dortmund in 2015. By the time he upped and left nine years later, another Champions League trophy was added to their tally and their name had been engraved into the top flight trophy for the first time since the league’s rebrand in 1992.
Things weren’t always neat and shiny for the 58-year-old and his win-at-all-costs mentality meant that falling out with players was inevitable. Nuri Sahin felt the wrath of the passionate manager during their time in Germany together – and that continued to be the case when Klopp moved to England’s top flight. Here are six players of a Liverpool persuasion who clashed with the managerial great.
1 Mamadou Sakho
Signed by Klopp’s predecessor, Brendan Rodgers, Mamadou Sakho‘s happy-go-lucky attitude meant that he’s a tough person to fall out with – but the German tactician valued punctuality highly and that’s how this relationship quickly dissolved into a bit of a feud. That’s because Sakho, who also played for Paris Saint-Germain and Crystal Palace, was late to numerous meetings.
He was even sent home early from Liverpool’s 2016 pre-season tour in the United States. “He missed the departure of the plane, he missed a session and then was late for a meal,” Klopp said before insinuating that Sakho didn’t strike him as a team player. “I have to build a group here, I have to start anew, so I thought it maybe made sense that he flew home to Liverpool.”
Mamadou Sakho’s Liverpool career ended in disappointing fashion after being banished by Jurgen Klopp.
Sakho didn’t make another appearance under Klopp and, for the first half of the 2016/17 season, he played for the club’s reserves before striking a deal with Palace. Getting their hands on the centre-back was considered shrewd at the time – but the £17 million man was not in Klopp’s plans, and it wasn’t at all to do with him performing poorly on the pitch.
2 Mohamed Salah
Widely regarded as one of Liverpool’s greatest players of all time, Mohamed Salah and Klopp (typically!) saw eye to eye when he was grabbing goals left, right and centre, which inevitably resulted in plenty of success. It wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows, though, after the Egypt international showed that he wasn’t happy with his manager in 2024 for leaving him on the bench.
When coming on as a substitute against West Ham United, the serial goal-getter was displeased – and that was evidenced by him holding his arms aloft and conversing with the German on the touchline. You can watch the footage of the two clashing below:
Stuttgart-born Klopp’s post-match interview was interesting. Speaking to TNT Sports, the ex-Mainz chief was keen on shutting down any swirling rumours about a deteriorating relationship, suggesting that the two had made amends in the dressing room and that should be the end of the matter: “No, [I won’t talk about it]. We spoke already in the dressing room and, for me, that’s done.”
3 Lazar Markovic
When Klopp tipped up to Merseyside, Lazar Markovic was on loan at Turkish outfit Fenerbahce as a means of getting more minutes under his belt and once he returned in the summer, it was abundantly clear from word go that he wasn’t going to be a regular at Anfield. A further three loan spells – at Sporting CP, Hull City and Anderlecht – beckoned before he left permanently in January 2019. That turned out to be an ill-fated free transfer to Fulham.
While on loan in Belgium, though, the winger hit out at Klopp and claimed that he would show him what he was missing. “It’s to show that I’m still the same player, to show the people at Liverpool that they can’t treat me that way,” he told a national newspaper. “Yes, it’s okay to take it personally when you are not let go because they’re asking for an unrealistic transfer amount.” Well, Klopp wasn’t proved wrong – and Markovic is now playing in the Cypriot top tier.
4 Mario Balotelli
Whether you think he is/was a talented striker or not, one thing is for certain: Mario Balotelli is a man who isn’t/wasn’t afraid to upset the applecart. Seldom high up in Klopp’s centre-forward pecking order, the Italian – who is among the players with the most wasted potential in football history – was left out of the Reds’ pre-season tour to the United States and all fingers pointed towards an exit.
Balotelli, who scored just one Premier League goal for Liverpool, moved to French side OGC Nice on deadline day, and he later hit out at his well thought of boss. “Klopp does not know me and I do not know him,” he said.
“I was back in Liverpool a month and a half and I spoke to him once. He explained to me that I could stay there, but I was not his first choice, and he told me it was better if I went somewhere else,” the Italy international continued. “If I got games, did well, I could come back, but I said goodbye and thank you, and that we wouldn’t be seeing each other again.”
5 Xherdan Shaqiri
In September 2018, Klopp’s Liverpool were dumped out of the Carabao Cup after a 2-1 defeat to Chelsea at Anfield – and Xherdan Shaqiri was singled out as the scapegoat. After the full-time whistle was blown, Klopp was spotted marching towards the forward, who is now enjoying the twilight period of his career playing for boyhood outfit Basel in his homeland. But why did he fall out with Klopp? “I spoke about a free-kick – the last one,” the German boss said, per The Mirror.
Klopp was referring to an injury-time free-kick when Salah was an option out wide and Shaqiri chose to ignore the open-wide Egyptian. “Mo [Mohamed Salah] was standing wide and a whole bunch of players were in one the direction where we shot the ball.”
“If he could have played in Mo on a one-on-one situation in the last minute of the game it would have been not too bad. It was only about the free-kick, nothing else. But at 1-0, Shaq was completely alone in the box and maybe you will have to ask him why he didn’t shoot in that situation.”
6 Jordon Ibe
Big things were expected of Jordon Ibe – now earning his corn for Lokomotiv Sofia in Bulgaria – when he was deemed to be Raheem Sterling’s worthy successor. Things never really panned out that way for the London-born winger, who earned four caps for England U21s, and he fell out with Klopp over a lack of game time. Ibe had not started in the Premier League for three months at that point.
“I heard from somewhere that Jordon has some problems with me or something? Absolutely not,” Klopp claimed, but things were never fruitful between the two.
Jordon Ibe was seen as the future at Anfield when Raheem Sterling departed the club, but the 29-year-old’s career take some unfortunate turns
Ibe, now 29 years of age, left Liverpool for Bournemouth in a deal worth £15 million in the summer of 2016, and he made sure to wax lyrical about Rodgers – and not Klopp! – once his move was rubber-stamped and he had completed his move down south. “Bournemouth is a good club,” the wide man said before adding: “They play the same football as Brendan Rodgers used to play, so I like the style of play and the philosophy the manager has got.”
Joao Palhinha has confirmed that he won’t be a Tottenham Hotspur player next season following a big U-turn by manager Roberto De Zerbi.
Tottenham have been the busiest Premier League club by far in the summer transfer window, with Sandro Tonali set to become their sixth addition imminently after Spurs agreed a club-record £100m fee with Newcastle United for the Italy international.
The 26-year-old follows fellow midfielder Mateus Fernandes through the door at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which has meant that De Zerbi has had to backtrack on his previous comments.
The Italian boss had previous said that Palhinha was someone he ‘100%’ wanted to sign this summer, after the Portugal international played a huge part in the club’s survival last season.
Palhinha scored two crucial goals against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Everton during the run-in, and while Tottenham didn’t take up the option they had to sign him on a permanent basis, it was expected that they would try and renegotiate the terms.
However, the north Londoners have now turned their back on a deal for the Bayern Munich star, having landed both Fernandes and Tonali for their midfield in big-money deals.
The Azteca Stadium in Mexico sparked conversations across football during the 2026 World Cup, with venue sitting 2,200m above sea level. It has been argued that the home stadium of the Mexico national team gives the host nation a huge advantage, as visiting teams struggle with the high altitude and limited oxygen.
It is an argument with merit, considering that Mexico have only lost two competitive matches at the stadium since it opened in 1966. Build-up to games often revolves around the ‘thin air’ narrative, with sports scientists lining up to explain how the lack of oxygen would hit visiting legs by the hour mark.
However, the twist is that the Azteca doesn’t even crack the top 10 highest football stadiums on the planet – it isn’t even close. There is a cluster of grounds that make Mexico City’s altitude look almost pedestrian, plus outliers on three other continents that rarely get a mention. Some of these venues sit so high that the pitches themselves have had to be rebuilt with artificial turf, because grass simply doesn’t work at such elevation.
Top 10 Highest Altitude Stadiums in the World
Stadium
Location
Altitude
Estadio Daniel Alcides Carrion
Cerro de Pasco, Peru
4,338m (14,232ft)
El Alto Municipal Stadium
El Alto, Bolivia
4,088m (13,412ft)
Estadio Victor Agustin Ugarte
Potosi, Bolivia
3,890m (12,762ft)
Estadio Enrique Torres Belon
Puno, Peru
3,829m (12,562 ft)
Estadio Guillermo Briceno Rosamedina
Juliaca, Peru
3,825m (12,549ft)
Estadio Jesus Bermudez
Oruro, Bolivia
3,735m (12,254ft)
Estadio Hernando Siles
La Paz, Bolivia
3,582m (11,752ft)
Estadio Inca Garcilaso de la Vega
Cusco, Peru
3,402m (11,161 ft)
Estadio Huancayo
Huancayo, Peru
3,259m (10,690ft)
Estadio El Campin
Bogota, Colombia
2,553 (8,376 ft)
Topping the list by some distance is Estadio Daniel Alcides Carrion in Cerro de Pasco, Peru. It is officially recognised as the highest football stadium in the world at 4,338m above sea level. It’s the home of Union Minas, and the ground holds around 10,000 supporters,tucked into one of the highest cities on earth. Extraordinarily, the stadium sits higher than some Mount Everest base camps and well above the altitude at which altitude sickness can become a genuine concern for those unfamiliar with it.
Cerro de Pasco itself has been a silver-mining town, and the stadium’s synthetic pitch, installed in 2012, exists because natural grass genuinely struggles to grow at such heights. It’s a detail that sums up how extreme the conditions are, with the stadium needing to be completely redesigned for it to function.
Bolivia, meanwhile, dominates the rest of the upper table, with three of the top six venues on this list found within its borders.
There is a wider context to this matter as well. FIFA temporarily banned international matches above 2,500m in May 2007after Brazilian club Flamengo needed bottled oxygen during a Copa Libertadores match in Potosi, sparking anger among Bolivians. The ban was revoked before it had even been in place for a year, but it remains the reference point for any conversation about altitude and the sport, and it’s why acclimatisation schedules are now standard practice for touring squads.
The fans in these venues are among the most passionate in the world, making for some incredible atmospheres.
South America
Estadio Daniel Alcides Carrion, Peru – 4,338m
The undisputed summit of world football, Estadio Daniel Alcides Carrion, sits inside Cerro de Pasco, one of the highest cities on the planet. Home to Union Minas and a regular Copa Peru venue, the stadium fitted an artificial surface in 2012 after natural grass was unable to grow. FIFA officially recognises it as the world’s highest ground.
Africa
Addis Ababa Stadium, Ethiopia – 2,400m
Africa’s entry sits in Ethiopia’s capital, itself one of the highest capital cities on the continent at somewhere around 2,350–2,400m above sea level (precise figures vary depending on the exact measuring point in the city). The stadium has long served as the home of Ethiopian football and hosts both domestic league fixtures and international matches for the national side. It doesn’t threaten the Andean giants for altitude, but it’s a useful reminder that thin-air football isn’t purely a South American story, and other continents such as Africa can produce similar conditions.
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North America
Estadio Azteca, Mexico – 2,200m
Estadio Azteca, rebranded as Mexico City stadium for World Cup 2026, hosted the opening match of the tournament between Mexico and South Africa, becoming the first venue to host three separate World Cup openers, after previously staging the tournament in 1970 and 1986. At roughly 2,200m above sea level, it’s the end of Mexico’s altitude spread, and it’s tough on unacclimatised visitors, even if it’s nowhere near the top of the global ranks.
Europe
Ottmar Hitzfield Arena, Switzerland – 2,012m
Europe’s answer is a world away from purpose-built elite level stadiums. The Ottmar Hitzfield stadium sits in Gspon, a car-free Swiss hamlet reachable only by cable car, and is the continent’s highest football pitch at just over 2,000m. Home to amateur side FC Gspon, the artificial surface is smaller than regulation size and hemmed in by a safety net to stop wayward shots tumbling hundreds of feet down the mountainside. It’s named after former Bayern Munich and Switzerland boss Ottmar Hitzfeld, who took the ceremonial kick-off when it opened in 2008.
Asia
Dasharath Rangasala, Nepal 1,400m
Nepal’s national stadium in Kathmandu is Asia’s highest-profile entry, sitting somewhere around 1,300-1,400m above sea level depending on the exact measuring point in the valley. Built in 1956, Dasharath Rangasala has hosted the AFC Challenge Cup, the SAFF Championship and multiple South Asian games, though it’s carried a dark history too; a 1988 stampede during a hailstorm killed dozens of spectators. There are almost certainly higher, unrecorded pitches scattered across Central Asia’s mountain interior, particularly in Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, but reliable published data is minute, and none hosted organised top-level football like the Dasharath Rangasala has.
Estadio Azteca is the highest stadium of all 16 venues used at the 2026 World Cup by a wide margin, and one of the most storied grounds in football history, having hosted three separate World Cups, a feat that no other stadium can claim.
So, what is the altitude of the stadium and what are the effects? GIVEMESPORT takes a look.
The Azteca is high by 2026 World Cup standards, but modest next to South America’s true altitude giants, several of which sit above FIFA’s old 2,500m threshold for international matches.
The highest altitude stadium in the world is Peru’s Estadio Daniel Alcides Carrion, which sits an incredibls 4,338m above sea level, nearly twice as high as the Azteca.
You can see a list of some of the highest stadiums below for comparison.
Eagle-eyed fans may be confused as to why there are different names for the World Cup arenas than usual – the answer is frighteningly simple.
Does Altitude Give Mexico an Advantage?
Raquel Cunha via Reuters
The short answer is yes, it’s a very big advantage. The national team have lost just twice in 89 competitive matches at the stadium, and has gone unbeaten there for well over a decade — a record few nations can touch on home soil anywhere in the world.
As per The Guardian, Mexican football commissioner Mikel Arriola: “We have a massive advantage because we’re playing at the Estadio Azteca with our fans and the altitude. It is a very potent setting.”
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Thinner air at 2,200m means less resistance on the ball, so it travels faster and dips less than at sea level – a wrinkle that can catch out goalkeepers and defenders unfamiliar with the conditions.
More significantly, it means less oxygen in every breath, which hits visiting players hardest in the legs and lungs: heart rates climb quicker, sprints are harder to repeat, and pressing intensity drops off as the game wears on — exactly the kind of high-tempo football most European and South American sides are built to play.
There’s no quick fix for it either, with sports scientists generally agreeing that two to three weeks at altitude is needed to meaningfully boost red blood cell production and oxygen-carrying capacity — a luxury a tight tournament schedule doesn’t allow.
Some squads, like South Korea, base themselves in elevated cities to adapt to the conditions, whilst teams like Colombia arrive with a natural edge from training at similar altitude levels back home. But those flying in directly from sea level are faced with a rough opening half, and are advised to hydrate heavily and avoid overexertion in their first 24 hours in the city.
What Have Players and Coaches Said?
REUTERS/Peter Cziborra
The altitude conversation resurfaces every time a lowland side draws Mexico, and the 2026 World was no exception.
Ahead of facing Mexico in the Round of 16 at the Azteca, England manager Thomas Tuchel told the BBC: “The altitude will be a big disadvantage because we cannot physically adapt to it. And in four days, it’s just impossible. More obstacles may come, we are ready for that.”
My understanding is that we cannot adapt to the altitude. That is just a huge advantage that Mexico will have. We have only three days in between these matches. Its physically just not possible to adapt to the altitude, which is quite high.”
Former West Ham midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker is one of few English players to have played at the Azteca stadium, and is fully aware of the challenges sides face, saying:
“It’s the most physically demanding place I have ever played football. To come from Europe and play in that altitude is so difficult. You cannot catch your breath. The first 45 to 55 minutes, you’re just trying to keep breathing.”
Senior Research Fellow at Leeds Beckett University, Dr Barney Wainwright, also told the BBC: “Maximum aerobic capacity at this kind of altitude usually drops around 10%, and that has a knock-on to performance. There will usually be a 15–20% increase in fatigue. For the distance it’s possible to cover, we would expect that to drop by 5-10%.
“Maximum sprint speeds won’t be affected, but players will need to wait a bit longer to recover from each one and go again. England might want to slow things down more to allow players time to recover between bouts of high-intensity play.”
Whether it is the intense home atmosphere, Mexico’s quality, the high altitude, or a combination of the three. One thing for certain is that the Azteca Stadium is one of the most difficult environments in world football, with visiting sides at a disadvantage before a ball has been kicked.
