Great Anfield Drama Upon Jurgen Klopp Over 1-0 Win Against Manchester City
Great Anfield Drama Upon Jurgen Klopp Over 1-0 Win Against Manchester City.
It is believed by the Man City squad that they perceived some of what’s regarded as ‘borderline xenophobic’ sentiments from the Liverpool Manager after the match.
The Times report that City was left totally unimpressed by Klopp’s remarks in his pre-match press conference, with belief in Manchester that he inflamed animosity ahead of a fixture that has a history of incidents.
‘There are three clubs in world football who can do what they want financially,’ Klopp said at his press conference on Friday.
Klopp was referring to City, Paris Saint-Germain, and Newcastle United, who all hold backing from Gulf states, and City felt the comment was ‘borderline xenophobic’.
On the whole, Klopp was complimentary of City, labeling them the ‘best’ team in the world and Guardiola as the best manager in the world.
But Sunday’s match was marred by a series of incidents off the pitch with tensions high between the two rivals.
After Manchester City had a goal from Phil Foden ruled out, Guardiola was targeted by coins.
City’s backroom staff had alleged during last season’s encounter that they were spat at by supporters sitting behind the dugout. An investigation that followed found no evidence to support this claim, the Times report.
Liverpool has vowed to study CCTV footage and will issue lifetime bans to any fan found to have thrown coins at Guardiola.
‘Next time they will do it better,’ Guardiola said when asked about coin throwing.
‘They didn’t get me. They tried but didn’t get me. They got it on the coach years ago but not this time.’
Tensions continued in the away end with two ‘vile’ chants clearly audible in reference to the Heysel and Hillsborough disasters.
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Man city condemned both the chants, which were met with boos from the home fans, and the offensive graffiti in the away concourse, while Liverpool issued their only statement.
‘We are deeply disappointed to hear vile chants relating to football stadium tragedies from the away section during today’s game at Anfield,’ Liverpool said.
‘The concourse in the away section was also vandalized with graffiti of a similar nature.
‘We know the impact such behavior has on the families, survivors, and all those associated with such disasters.
‘We are working with the relevant authorities and we will also work with Manchester City in order to do our utmost to ensure these chants are eradicated from football altogether.’
It is a fixture that has a history of incidents and allegations of a missile hitting City’s bus as they left down Anfield Road is the third time the away coach has been targeted.
In 2018 ahead of a Champions League clash the City coach was attached and prior to that ‘bottles and stones’ were said to be thrown at the team bus after a defeat in April 2014.
Klopp was sent off by referee Anthony Taylor in the 86th minute as the drama continued to the end of the match, which Liverpool won 1-0 thanks to a goal from Mohamed Salah.
The German manager was shown red after he argued with officials over their decision not to award a free-kick to Salah late in the game.
Klopp currently stands to miss their next outing against West Ham on Wednesday night in the Premier League.
Following the feisty encounter, City remains second but dropped pace on league leaders Arsenal, while Klopp’s side moves into the top half of the Premier League table.
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