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Speaking to talkSPORT, former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy shared his views on the incident at Wembley before the Community Shield game between his former side and Manchester City kicked off on Sunday.

The Liverpool supporters were heard booing the national anthem as the players lined up before kick off, for reasons expertly explained in this article by The Independent - bottom line is, the majority of the Reds fanbase do not seem to want God to save the queen.

Jurgen Klopp's men went on to lose the traditional curtain raiser on penalties to Pep Guardiola's champions, but the Merseysiders' booing of the national anthem has remained as a hot topic.

What did he say?

Murphy said: "You can’t condone it because it’s disrespectful, but it’s gone on for years.

“You’ll Never Walk Alone is the Liverpool anthem and is what should be sung by Liverpool supporters before a big game, and Blue Moon is Manchester City’s anthem and should be sung by theirs fans – I agree with that.

“The national anthem before any big game is pointless when such a small percentage of players are English."

Spot on

The 42-year-old has hit the nail on the head here.

Whilst booing the anthem is one thing, having it played in the first place is fairly pointless in this day and age.

Just six players out of the 22 who started the match were English. Should the Portuguese national anthem have been played for Bernardo Silva? The Spanish one for Rodri and David Silva? It is a tradition that is becoming essentially pointless.

With all due respect, it is a mere sideshow whilst fans such as myself wait until they can carry on getting behind their team - it is simply a pointless minute or two.

The atmosphere and the pre-match anticipation would be significantly stronger if clubs' respective anthems are played instead, and we wouldn't need to waste time lambasting Liverpool's fanbase for choosing to boo, a choice that they are well within their rights to make.

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