Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp praises Tony Yeboah's role in racism fight

Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp has eulogized former Ghanaian striker Tony Yeboah, saying he is the greatest striker to have played in the Bundesliga after his countryman Gerd Muller.

The 59-year-old former Black Stars striker emerged as the first African player to win the top scorer in the Bundesliga in 1993 and he retained the crown in 1994 while with Eintracht Frankfurt.

Jurgen Klopp, a former player of Mainz 04 in the Bundesliga has hailed Tony Yeboah, saying he was someone whose influence transcended the field of play in Germany during his heydays.

“Yeboah was one of the greatest strikers who played in Germany apart from Gerd Müller. He had a big impact on society,” enthuses Liverpool’s manager, who also remembers some of the abuse one of the country’s first black players had to endure.

“In football we never thought about racism. If some idiots were shouting something, you realised it but you were saying: ‘Are you mad? What are you doing?’ There wasn’t social media so it didn’t get the awareness of today.

Tony Yeboah played 349 games for Germany clubs namely Saarbrücken, Eintracht Frankfurt and Hamburger SV and scored 155 goals.

Meanwhile, Gerd Muller who was the all-time top scorer in the FIFA World Cup before Luis Ronaldo surpassed his goal-scoring feat had a scintillating career with Bayern Munich and Germany, which saw him win several Bundesliga titles, 3 European Cups, UEFA Championship, FIFA World Cup, among others.

He bagged 40 goals in the 1971-72 Bundesliga season which stood for several years until Lionel Messi broke the record in 2012.

Muller bagged 314 goals in the Bundesliga for Bayern Munich in his 14-season spell with the club.