Klopp accepts UEFA ban

Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp has accepted his UEFA sideline ban for the forthcoming Champions League match at Arsenal as his club's injury list grows.

 

Klopp has been banned from the sidelines for two Champions League games after ranting at fourth official Venancio Tome during Borussia's 2-1 defeat at Napoli last month.

 

Last week, the 46-year-old Klopp watched Dortmund's 3-0 home win over Olympique Marseille from the stands and will do the same at Emirates Stadium on October 22, having decided not to appeal UEFA's ban handed out on October 2.

 

"My main motivation is that I don't want to give the impression that I am trivialising my own misconduct or want to detract from it," Klopp explained to German newspaper Revier Sport.

 

Klopp's place on the Dortmund bench in London will again be taken by assistant coach Zeljko Buvac after UEFA's written verdict arrived in Dortmund on Tuesday and club bosses on Wednesday opted not to lodge an appeal.

 

With the international break coming up, Dortmund's next match is at home to Hanover 96 in the Bundesliga on October 19 and the pause comes at a perfect time for Klopp with 10 players injured, including Germany midfielders Marco Reus and Ilkay Gundogan.

 

Reus has cried off Germany's World Cup qualifier against the Republic of Ireland in Cologne on Friday with an ankle injury, while Gundogan could miss the rest of the year with a trapped nerve, according to German daily Bild.

 

Dortmund, second in the Bundesliga, have a busy finish to the month as they face the trip to London to face Arsenal on October 22, then travels to rivals Schalke in Gelsenkirchen four days later in the Bundesliga.

 

- Sapa-AFP