Jurgen Klopp has expressed his sympathy for Wayne Rooney as the storm over him being photographed on a night while on England duty continues to rage.

Rooney, who was pictured arriving for Manchester United training on Thursday, issued a grovelling apology on Wednesday after his drinking session resulted in the FA banning England players from nights out.

Photographs showed the Three Lions captain, who looked dazed and had wine-stained lips, at a wedding party posing with guests, including one woman wearing his England training top.

But Liverpool manager Klopp has leaped to Rooney's defence by suggesting modern-day footballers are unfairly treated ? and he also claimed the drinking culture in decades gone by was worse.

Speaking at Thursday's press conference ahead of his side's trip to Southampton, he said: 'Somebody saw Wayne Rooney doing what?

'I feel really for the players. I know we're all on the sunny side of life, we earn a lot of money and do the job we love, but at the end maybe it comes as a surprise that we are also human beings, too.

'Sometimes we're invited to weddings, birthdays or whatever and we can play the professional role still and say "no we don't drink". Or, if you smoke please stand 20 yards away because I don't want to be a passive smoker. That is not how life works.

'These boys, this generation is the most professional generation of footballers not only in England, but one England has ever had.

'All the guys, all the legends we love and admire, they drank like devils and smoked like crazy but they were still good players. No one does it any more. I don't know anyone now.

'We had a Christmas party and I had to fill people's glasses. It's about timing – when you are in the wrong time at the wrong place, it's not good as a professional. I have no idea where Wayne was but I'm pretty sure it's not really serious. It is the not the nice part of our life.

'Our life sounds like a big catastrophe when things are not perfect. But it's not like that. Sometimes it is good to have a situation like this, you can fine the player and do something good with the money.

'From my point of view I don't know much about it but I am pretty sure it is nothing.

'The German national team were in Rome and I saw some pics of them in a restaurant. They had no glass in their hand but are you saying they didn't drink?

'That's how it is, we live life under a glass. We know it most of the time and we function, but sometimes we don't. In one, two or three weeks, no-one will remember what happened so why make a big thing of it.'

A report published in The Sun on Tuesday, the day of the Spain game, accused the England captain of gatecrashing a wedding at the team hotel on Saturday night where the Manchester United star is alleged to have been intoxicated hours before he was due to train.

Photographs of Rooney looking worse for wear at The Grove hotel in Hertfordshire appeared in the same publication on Wednesday morning.

One England player, however, who had a positive international break was Liverpool's out-of-favour striker Daniel Sturridge.

Sturridge scored in England's World Cup qualifying win over Scotland but that is unlikely to get him back into his club side for Saturday's trip to Southampton.

Klopp, however, insists he remains happy with the striker and the player likewise with the club.

The Reds boss added: 'My opinion is very good about Daniel, it has never changed, I saw the (England) game and he scored a wonderful goal.

'He is a wonderful football player so why should I change after 70-something minutes in the first game and no minutes in the second game?

'It is very positive. When he came back he was happy to see us again, I could see in his face, his attitude and the fun he had in training.

'He was really happy to be and that's a good sign.'

Asked whether Sturridge would be happier playing Klopp added: 'I was a player for a few years so yes, probably.'