Jurgen Klopp believes treatment of Wayne Rooney has been harsh after his hotel booze bender
Liverpool boss was quick to point out that footballing legends 'drank like devils and smoked like crazy'
JURGEN KLOPP reckons the Wayne Rooney booze fury is all a storm in a pint pot.
Rooney has been forced to apologise for 5am pictures showing him worse for wear after England’s win over Scotland last weekend.
The FA has also been forced to warn Three Lions stars about their conduct on nights out when they are away on international duty.
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And would-be psycho-analysts have had a field day putting the boot in on Rooney, insisting he should be THE role model as England skipper.
Yet he found an unlikely ally at Anfield, in Liverpool chief Klopp, who insists the whole incident will swiftly be forgotten.
The Kop boss claimed: “What I can say is I feel really for the players. I know we’re all on the sunny side of life, we earn a lot of money and do the job we love.
“But at the end maybe it comes as a surprise that we are also human beings too. Sometimes we’re invited to weddings, birthdays or whatever and we can play the professional role still.
“We can say ‘no we don’t drink,’ or ‘if you smoke please stand 20 yards away because I don’t want to be a passive smoker.’ That is not how life works.
“The German national team were in Rome and I saw pictures of them in a restaurant. They had no glass in their hand but are you saying they didn’t drink? That’s how it is.
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“We live life under a glass – but in one, two or three weeks no-one will remember it.”
Klopp was also quick to point out how football’s top stars of old – and some in the not too distant past – were hardly angels either.
He added: “These boys, this generation is the most professional generation of footballers England has ever had.
“All the guys, all the legends we love and admire, they drank like devils and smoked like crazy but they were still good players. No one does it any more. I don’t know anyone now.
“We had a Christmas party and I had to fill people’s glasses. It’s about timing – when you are in the wrong time at the wrong place and it’s not good as a professional.
“I have no idea where Wayne was but I’m pretty sure it’s not really serious. It is the not the nice part of our life.
“Our life sounds like a big catastrophe when things are not perfect. But it’s not like that.
“Sometimes it is good to have a situation like this, because you can fine the player and do something good with the money!”