The German coach has denied omitting Shaqiri from Liverpool's Champions League trip to Red Star Belgrade over security concerns and insisted it made sense ''to cool the situation down' at the hostile Rajko Mitic Stadium.
Kosovo-born Shaqiri was a notable absentee from the squad travelling to Serbia yesterday - with Klopp seeking to avoid unnecessary distractions.
The Reds boss admitted politics influenced his decision; as the Switzerland international antagonised Serbian fans after his 90th- minute winner against them at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Shaqiri was fined 10,000 Swiss francs by FIFA for celebrating by forming a double-headed eagle with his hands – as represented on the flag of Albania, who fought against Serbia in the Kosovo war – and sparked a complaint from the Serbia FA for sporting a Kosovo flag on his boots.
Red Star's sporting director, Zvezdan Terzic, cautioned against Shaqiri playing when the draw was earlier this year and the Klopp's decision has been welcomed by Serbian media and Red Star officials - who believe it has defused a potentially volatile situation and the threat of Uefa sanctions.
"I'm absolutely not aware of any security issues," Klopp in the pre-match press conference, as quoted by The Guardian.
"The only thing I can say about it was that it was common sense. It was common sense to make the decision and not to force anything.
"We come here wanting to play football. We have to concentrate on football. We have to focus on football. That's what we want to do and that is why I made that decision."
After the Premier League side's routine 4-0 win over the Serbs last month, the former Bayern Munich winner said he could "handle it, no problem", in reference to playing in Serbia.
And Klopp has since revealed that his reaction was muted when informed of his omission: "‘OK, boss.' That was the decision and with the decision, the discussion ended at that moment."
However, Klopp has been left bemused by the media reaction once his squad was announced to travel to the "Marakana", which is renowned for its intimidating atmosphere.
"My job and your job as well is not to do questions which provoke a kind of answer," Klopp said.
"We need to cool the situation down. We are in Serbia, we respect that 100%. That's how the world is. Politics always has influence on life, on the life I live at least, and that's how it is.
"But we are not here for that, we are here to play football. We tried to make sure we can be focused on football. I expected it differently but most of the English-speaking journalists were asking about it, to be honest.
"It could have been a story but we didn't want to have a story besides a football story. That's why we decided what we decided."