Jurgen Klopp Comments on 'Shock' of Borussia Dortmund Team Bus Attack

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has spoken of the "shock" he saw in the faces of Borussia Dortmund players after their team bus was hit with three explosions on Tuesday.

The attack on the Bundesliga club's vehicle left their defender Marc Bartra in hospital with a fractured wrist and meant their UEFA Champions League match with AS Monaco was put back until Wednesday. Dortmund lost the match 3-2.

Speaking at his press conference on Thursday, Klopp, a former manager at the Westfalenstadion, revealed his feelings about the incident, per Alex Smith of the Daily Mirror:

"

I know exactly the road. A lot of my friends were in the bus. I was on the way home from Melwood and Matt called me and told me something happened.

I was really concerned, scared for them. In the first moment it was a bit of relief, then you hear the more information you get the more serious it got.

I had contact with people but I didn’t want to bother them with my silly questions. I was waiting with the rest of the world. The last thing I thought about was the game.

[…] I was really proud of Borussia Dortmund. When they played the game they tried to give the best. I saw the faces of my former players and I saw the shock in their eyes and that was really, really hard.

"

Klopp enjoyed a prosperous seven-year stay at Dortmund before his departure in 2015, winning two Bundesliga titles.

Many of the players he worked with at the club remain part of the squad, too, including the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Shinji Kagawa and Sven Bender. The manager has a huge affinity with the club's supporters, having guided them back to the top level of German and European football with a swagger.

The decision to play the match so quickly after the attacks has prompted some criticism, with manager Thomas Tuchel suggesting UEFA made the team feel "impotent" by swiftly rearranging the fixture, per Mark Dobson of the Guardian.

Maja Hitij/Getty Images

Klopp suggested European football’s governing body had a tough decision to make. "I can 100 percent understand both sides—it was difficult to find another date," said the former Dortmund boss. "I think everybody could understand if you couldn’t play it."

Liverpool were one of the first clubs to send their well wishes to Dortmund when the news of the bus explosions broke:

The attack happened on Tuesday as the BVB bus left their hotel. German police have since confirmed that a person with "Islamist links" has been detained in connection with the incident, while they remain on the hunt for another suspect, per the BBC.

As noted in the same piece, it was also revealed the bombs contained pieces of shrapnel and that a shard was stuck in the headrest of one of the seats on board.