'Who does he think he is?!': Senegal boss Aliou Cisse slams Jurgen Klopp for calling AFCON a 'small tournament' and claims the German owes his success at Liverpool to African stars Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Joel Matip Jurgen Klopp caused a stir when he called AFCON a 'small tournament' The Liverpool manager insisted his comments were misinterpreted Aliou Cisse called Klopp's remarks disrespectful towards AFCON Liverpool will lose Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita for a month AFCON runs from January 9 until February 6 next year in Cameroon By Dan Cancian For Mailonline Published: 14:31 GMT, 5 December 2021 | Updated: 14:36 GMT, 5 December 2021 1 Viewcomments Senegal manager Aliou Cisse has hit back at Jurgen Klopp's remarks over the African Cup of Nations (AFCON), suggesting the Liverpool manager owed his success to players from the continent. Last month, the German caused a stir as he described the AFCON as a 'small tournament' following Liverpool's 4-0 win over Arsenal. Asked whether he was relieved there was no international break until March, Klopp replied: 'I've heard that so often that there's no international break until March. Senegal manager Aliou Cisse has slammed Jurgen Klopp's AFCON comments 'In January, there's a little tournament in Africa, I just want to say, and I think Asia is playing games, too - South America as well, great, can't wait.' Liverpool are set to lose several of their stars, including Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita for the tournament, which runs from January 9 until February 6 next year. While Klopp subsequently backtracked, Cisse felt he had showed a lack of respect for the tournament and had a swipe at the German's track record before he managed the likes of Salah and Mane. Salah will be at AFCON representing Egypt while Mane will also be in Cameroon for Senegal 'Who does he think he is? I manage Senegal and my players play for Klopp at Liverpool,' he told broadcaster iTV Senegal. 'I respect Liverpool but not Klopp who undermines African football events. He is where he is today because of African footballers. 'He was losing every final until Salah, Mane, Matip came to his rescue to win his first-ever major European final.' Cisse, who played in the Premier League with Birmingham City and Portsmouth, pointed out that the AFCON featured the same number of teams as the Euros - 24 - and the quality was just as good. The Liverpool boss had jokingly said the AFCON was a 'small tournament', before backtracking Speaking after Liverpool's 2-0 win over Porto in the Champions League last week, Klopp clarified his comments had been misinterpreted. 'I didn't mean it like that. I don't know why you understand it like that,' he told a journalist, who had suggested his comments had offended African players and fans. 'It's not even close to the idea in my mind that I want to talk about AFCON as a little tournament, or the continent of Africa like a little continent, not at all. "What I meant is, because people said, and if you watch the full press conference, if you wanted to understand it in the right way you could have understood it in the right way.' Cisse said Klopp's spell at Liverpool would not be as successful without Mane and Salah The Liverpool boss refuted the suggestion the AFCON was not on the same level of its other continental counterparts. 'There's still a tournament. A big one. We lose our best players to the Africa Cup of Nations,' he continued. 'I'm not a native speaker, but if you want to understand me wrong you can do that all the time. I know that I would never think like this.' Read more: Share or comment on this article: All rights reserved for this news site (dailymail) and under his responsibility