Klopp wants one-game League Cup semis in future

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp believes the League Cup semi-finals should be played over one leg in future to reduce fixture congestion.

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Klopp’s side host Arsenal in the semi-final first leg on Thursday after the match was delayed for a week due to a coronavirus outbreak in the Liverpool camp.

Chelsea have already booked their place in the February 27 final at Wembley after dispatching Tottenham 3-0 on aggregate before Liverpool have even started their semi-final.

Liverpool eventually said their Covid tests were false positives, but Klopp is convinced Football League chiefs should get rid of the two-legged encounter.

The semi-finals are held immediately after the hectic Christmas programme and Klopp knows one less match would provide valuable time to rest and recover.

“Covid is around and with the amount of fixtures we have it is really tricky to fit them all in so a second semi-final is actually only good for one thing – it’s for the EFL probably from a financial point of view,” Klopp said.

“But we should or could find a solution in the future, not for this year obviously because we didn’t ask for it, no, just in general.

“I think all top-class people in football, especially the coaches, agree that we have to reduce the amount of games, in the long-term definitely.

“But a lot of people around try to do it the other way and that will not lead in the right direction definitely. It will not be the right outcome.

“So at one point we have to talk about these things but not for this game: we have two semi-finals and we are happy and hopeful that we can play both and that’s what we want to do.”