Jurgen Klopp has raged against plans to increase the number of Champions League games.
Radical proposals to extent the group stage of Europe’s premier club competition to 32 teams from 2024/25 are reported to be backed by Premier League clubs.
Liverpool have been credited as one of the teams to give their approval to the idea, which would also cause seismic changes to the English football calendar.
They would include scrapping FA Cup replays and the two-legged format for League Cup semi-finals.
But Klopp railed against claims that the Reds have supported the ideas for reform following his side’s hard-fought win over Watford on Saturday afternoon.
He also took issue with FIFA’s Club World Cup, which has been confined to one stadium due to Qatar’s Education City area being incomplete in time for the tournament.
“If we wouldn’t go to Qatar we would play midweek Aston Villa [in the Carabao Cup quarter-final] and then West Ham,” said the Liverpool manager.
“The only difference is we fly for seven hours and then it is warmer.
“I think it is raining there, too. It doesn’t help the one pitch we are all now playing on … sensationally good organising, all the games on the one pitch. We will see how the one pitch will be.
“We have one game more when we play West Ham, I’m not sure when that is yet. Until then we try to sort it as well as possible for us.
“With the Gini [Wijnaldum] injury today, Dejan [Lovren] four days ago, our squad is not getting bigger.
“But that would be the same problem if we went to Villa and played the Carabao Cup quarter-final. The fixtures are like they are.
“You all like watching us suffering. That is how it is. Maybe you look concerned but in the end nobody really cares, to be 100% honest.
“We have to deal with it, we speak about it and nobody else really speaks about it. When you discuss it, we don’t know exactly what they want.
“Today I read an article that the top clubs want more games in the Champions League, I am absolutely not involved in these plans.
“That is absolute bollocks as well. We can talk about everything but we have to cut off games, not put more in.
“It is clear we need each point we can get because it is a tough and long season. You can make early judgments [on the season] but we can’t, we just have to recover and play the next game.”