Hummels: I can't go to Klopp's birthday party - it's my wedding anniversary!

Jamie Smith

Hummels: I can't go to Klopp's birthday party - it's my wedding anniversary! image

Mats Hummels will not be attending a 50th birthday celebration for his former Borussia Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp as it clashes with his wedding anniversary.

Klopp plans to mark his 50th birthday with a bash on June 15, but Bayern Munich defender Hummels said he cannot go to the party as he will instead be celebrating with wife Cathy.

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Hummels was Klopp's captain when the duo worked together at Dortmund but, despite the Germany international expressing a wish to attend, they will not be reunited at the party.

"On June 15 it is his celebration," Hummels told German television station ZDFneo. "He certainly knows this, it is not a surprise party. 

"And he had to choose my wedding day, which is why I cannot come. I would have been at Kloppo's 50th, of course."

Mats Hummels Bayern Munich

Hummels also stated that he would not have played in Dortmund's Champions League quarter-final first-leg tie against Monaco, which was postponed by just a day following an attack on the team's coach.

The defender was critical of the decision to play the fixture so soon after the incident.

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"I thought it was bad, I would not have played it, I would not have it," Hummels added. "It is, of course, the question whether there was an alternative to play or fly out, whether it would have been tolerated. But I would have had to take a break.

"I do not know whether it would have been difficult organisationally or financially. But I think that there were interests ranked higher than what those who were sitting [on the bus] have felt, and that is a pity."

Jamie Smith