Jurgen Klopp rejects Real Madrid interest: 'I replied with various emojis' after being flooded with messages

Ex-Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said Xabi Alonso's ouster at Real Madrid has "nothing to do with me," pouring cold water over reports that he would leave his current role with Red Bull to return to the touchline with the Spanish club.

Real Madrid parted ways with Alonso on Monday, the day after their 3-2 defeat to Barcelona in the final of the Spanish Super Cup. The announcement came as a surprise but brought Alsono's tenure to an end after just seven months, during which he won a majority of his matches and started to build a version of the team in his vision but could not find a quick solution to Real Madrid's squad balance issues. Alvaro Arbeloa, a former first team player and longtime coach in the club's academy, will take charge of Los Blancos in the meantime while the search begins for Alonso's long-term replacement.

There was some speculation that Klopp could be a contender to succeed Alonso, with Sky Sports Germany reporting he would seriously consider the move, but he suggested he was uninterested in the job.

"I think the rumors have been circulating for some time now. And I know exactly what your question is getting at, but it has nothing to do with me," Klopp told Australian broadcaster Servus TV.

"[My phone] has actually rung, but not from Madrid," he continued. "There were definitely a few people who felt they had to contact me directly about [the role]. This has absolutely nothing to do with me, and it didn't trigger anything for me either. I was surprised, that's true, genuinely surprised. Then a few people messaged me, and I replied with various emojis."

He added that the news "hasn't affected him at all" and that Alonso's quick departure "is another sign that something isn't working perfectly there."

"This shows several things: on the one hand, that we [coaches] no longer have any time, and on the other hand, that the demands at Real Madrid are, logically, enormous," Klopp added. "I think when you arrive after a legend and an incredibly good coach, who had a very specific way of coaching his team -- Carlo Ancelotti -- if you arrive there and try to implement some new rules, this time it seems it has proven too difficult."

Klopp has been the head of global soccer for Red Bull since January 2025, a role with oversight of eight different clubs that the energy drink company has under its soccer umbrella. He previously told CBS Sports that the job allows him to coach "in a different way" and admitted he does not miss being on the touchline.

"I don't miss anything," he said. "I didn't miss [it] from the first second. … If I have to make the decision today for an entire whatever, I will say no. I will not go back but looking at Carlo Ancelotti, I don't even know how old he is, maybe 65 or something like that. It would mean I have seven years' time to change my mind so I probably cannot say I will not coach, 1,000%, I will not be back but in this moment right now, I miss nothing. I enjoy what I'm doing. I don't want to stop working at all. I never wanted [to]. I just wanted, needed something else."