Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has defender the decision of Arsenal star Mesut Ozil to retire from international football.
The 29-year-old quit the German national side after sharing an explosive three-part statement across his social media accounts on Sunday.
Ozil broke his silence on the controversial photograph with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan in London last month.
The playmaker came under fire from sections of the media, the far-right AfD party and members of the German FA.
Ozil cites racism and discrimination as being the key factors behind his call to quit the national team.
Arsenal star Mesut Ozil’s decision to retire from international football.
Ozil’s compatriot Klopp has given his reaction to the latest developments and made it clear that it is an unfortunate situation but that ultimately the Arsenal star had ‘the right to do so’.
“I really don’t think that anybody’s said the 100 percent right thing about it, and I don’t have the right thing to say about it,” he told reporters. “It’s a personal decision and, first of all, you don’t want to play for Germany — other players did that as well.
“He had 92 games. All the rest, I don’t really understand it 100 percent. Yes, the picture [with Erdogan] was more than unlucky. That’s how it is, 100 percent.
“But all rest is then you can find true things in what he wrote and you will find a few things that obviously that the rest of the world would say, ‘No, that’s not exactly like it is.
“But it’s a personal opinion, not more. It’s his opinion that it happens like that and that’s why he stepped back. So his decision, absolutely, and he has the right to do so.”
Ozil is currently in Singapore with the Arsenal team for the International Champions Cup.
The playmaker of Turkish origin returned from his holiday early to join the team for the pre-season.