Jurgen Klopp clarified his comments about the number of penalties Manchester United have been awarded.
Liverpool and Manchester United will face each other this Sunday afternoon in a game that will decide the Premier League’s leadership. The Red Devils currently occupy the top spot in the league, while Klopp’s men sit three points behind. Therefore, Liverpool have the chance to take back a place they know quite well as current champions.
At the pre-match press conference, Jurgen Klopp was asked about the comments he made regarding the discrepancy in penalty numbers between the clubs. Former referee Mark Clattenburg accused the German coach of being a ‘hypocrite’. In fact, he even suggested the manager was trying to destabilize United before their clash.
“Am I surprised that somebody is talking about what I said about the Southampton game? No, I’m not,” he said. “But I’m not Sir Alex, and for different reasons. When he [Clattenburg] said we tried something with mind games, I was speaking directly after the Southampton game.
Between this moment and then we had another game and I didn’t think for a second about the United game in that moment. But before the game against Southampton, I saw the stats about the penalties, and that’s why I mentioned it.”
Jurgen Klopp looked quite annoyed as he explained that he didn’t engage in that type of play and had never asked his players to dive.
“When people like Mark Clattenburg now are speaking like they speak, it always says much more about them than it could ever say about me. If he would be in my situation, he obviously would play mind games. Unfortunately I have no skills for playing mind games, that’s my problem.”
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