Jurgen Klopp hits back at Paris Saint-Germain’s gamesmanship as he says his Liverpool players were made to look like ‘butchers’ during a match that had ‘500,000 interruptions’
- Jurgen Klopp bemoaned the actions of Paris Saint-Germain’s players in Paris
- Klopp took a swipe at PSG after what he called were ‘500,000 interruptions’
- Liverpool lost 2-1 away against PSG on Wednesday night at Parc des Princes
- The Reds can still reach the last-16 if they beat Napoli 1-0 or by two clear goals
Jurgen Klopp took a swipe at Paris Saint-Germain’s gamesmanship as another away defeat in Europe left Liverpool facing a final group game cliff-hanger.
Liverpool can still reach the last-16 if they beat Napoli 1-0 or by two clear goals on December 11 and Klopp has set the tone already by calling on his supporters to create an atmosphere that is fit for a final, saying: ‘We really need Anfield.’
Once again, Liverpool started sloppily and it cost them dearly as they conceded two goals to Juan Bernat and Neymar.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp bemoaned the behaviour of PSG players on Wednesday night
It was the Brazilian, though, whose actions incensed Liverpool’s players. He was the main protagonist in some serious gamesmanship from PSG and Klopp could not hide his ire.
‘Against sides like that it’s quite difficult to get confidence so we never got 100 per cent into our game,’ said Klopp. ‘And there were 500,000 interruptions in the second half. We are the fairest team in England if you look at the table but (here) we looked like butchers.
‘They were smart, if you want, and the referee let it happen. You can lose in Paris, of course, it will happen to a lot of teams in the future. But it still feels a bit rubbish. But on 11 December we have a proper final at Anfield.’
Neymar holds his face on a day the PSG forward spent most of the time on the floor or arguing
The Brazilian was at his theatrical best as he holds his leg on Wednesday night in Paris
Thomas Tuchel, PSG’s head coach, gave a sardonic response when informed of Klopp’s comments and described them as a diversionary tactic.
‘I don’t feel it is such a big issue,’ said Tuchel. ‘We suffered a lot of fouls. You don’t have to commit a lot of fouls, especially if you are 1-0 down. If you are 1-0 down then don’t commit 10 fouls in the next 10 minutes. I didn’t experience it this way around. When I lose a big game I am angry and I will talk about other stuff to bring attention away from my team also. I hear Jurgen has his opinion and that’s fine. I’m talking about the game.’
Liverpool almost conceded a chance in the opening 30 seconds to Edison Cavani and Klopp observed: ‘The start was like what we expected, it was very wild and intense and they took all the risks. They scored twice by winning the second ball.
‘We still had to stay in the game, but as soon as we had a bit of control, you saw the game wasn’t decided. We tried everything but we didn’t have enough clear chances. We had two or three promising situations but with one or two decisions they would have been.’
When Klopp was told that a 1-0 win would be sufficient against the leaders of Group C, he replied: Good. We will score a goal and then the final whistle will happen and we can go home.’We have to take the result but it still feels a bit rubbish and now we have to use Anfield one more time. We are calling Anfield actually… right now.’