“It was not animated!”
Jurgen Klopp was in understandably spiky form after his team went three Premier League games without a win, losing to their fierce rivals at Old Trafford.
Bruno Fernandes was back to his best in Manchester United’s 2-1 victory over Liverpool, and he certainly wound up Liverpool in the process.
The United midfielder was part of an effective trio, with Christian Eriksen and Scott McTominay, and made a couple of defensive clearances to go with a probing display, when attacking. His balls over and around the Liverpool high press had the visitors in trouble, especially during the first 60 minutes.
Fernandes did get under the Merseysiders’ skin, though, as he was booked for a dive in the Liverpool box, caused a delay after Mo Salah’s goal and got into with with Klopp after Lisandro Martinez was nudged by Fabio Carvalho.
After the full-time whistle, the Liverpool boss approached the Portugal star and placed his arm around his neck, but their chat seemed light-hearted in nature.
Jurgen Klopp can't hide his feelings towards Bruno Fernandes 😅 pic.twitter.com/7Gdop1IeUM
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) August 22, 2022
Jurgen Klopp on post-match interaction with Bruno Fernandes
Following the game, Jurgen Klopp disagreed with reporters on the line of some of their questions. He laughed when Fabinho’s name was mentioned and insisted that starting the Brazilian on the bench was ‘not the story of the game’.
When asked if there were wider issues at the club that may be contributing to his team’s winless start to the Premier League, the German took the question as being about the on-field spat between James Milner and Virgil Van Dijk.
“I was a football player myself,” he explained. “Nobody is happy after a loss, that is completely normal. This is not an explanation or an excuse or whatever, it is all fine in this department.”
Asked about his “animated” post-match interaction with Bruno Fernandes, Klopp contested, “It was not animated.
“It was the most harmless conversation I ever had, with a player who is as emotional as I maybe was!” Klopp said.
“It was the situation with the centre-half, Martinez, when he went down with an awful tackle [from Carvalho], which was obviously nothing. He was talking to me and said, ‘You would do the same’, but I said no, I cannot fall like this.
“It was all fine after the game. Bruno told me he needs these kind of conversations during the game and so I said, ‘Fine, use me!’“
During his briefing, Klopp also spoke of the 15 senior squad players Liverpool are currently without – through injury, illness or suspension – but stressed he liked the look of his starting XI.
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