Jürgen Klopp responded irritated and then walked away when asked about controversial comments made by former Germany player Bastian Schweinsteiger as a TV pundit on the team's last opponents Ivory Coast.
The 2014 World Cup winner Schweinsteiger, now working for public broadcasters ARD, had described Ivory Coast's football as "a bit African football, a bit unorthodox, a bit wild, a bit perhaps also not so conditioned by tactics. We have to be prepared for it to be unpredictable."
The remarks made before Germany won the match 2-1 on Saturday were criticised as racial sterotypes.
Former Liverpool and Dortmund coach Klopp, who is also a TV pundit, for MagentaTV, was asked about them by Deutsche Welle at a media event in New York.
“Now you want to carry on the subject. No, no, I have no chance. I have no chance to answer this question," he said.
"Everybody likes it so you bring me in this situation. It’s not my job that everybody likes it, but this is a serious subject.
"I don’t even know what is appropriate to say. For African people it’s one thing, for other people it’s another thing."
He added with a smile: "Thank God, I thought, nobody asked me about that. You found a moment. And surprisingly, you are German. That surprised me so much."
