‘PSG MADE US LOOK LIKE BUTCHERS’

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. Six Liverpool players were booked by Polish referee Szymon Marciniak, with PSG forward Neymar in particular reacting theatrically to challenges. Klopp could not hide his ire, saying: ‘There were 500,000 interruptions in the second half and the referee still thinks he did everything right. We are the fairest team in England if you look at the table but (here) we looked like butchers. It looks like we use elbows and everything. ‘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 December 11 we have a proper final at Anfield.’ That is the date when Napoli come to Liverpool, with Klopp’s team needing to win 1-0 or by two clear

goals to reach the last 16. Thomas Tuchel, PSG’s head coach, gave a sardonic response when informed of Klopp’s comments. ‘I don’t feel it is such a big issue,’ ssue, said the German. ‘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. ‘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 hi opinion and that’s fine. I’m talking about the game.’ Once again, Liverpool started sloppily and it cost them dearly as they conceded two goals to Juan Bernat and Neymar. It was the Brazilian, though, whose actions incensed Liverpool’s players. He was the main protagonist in some serious gamesmanship from PSG. ‘Against sides like that it’s quite difficult to get confidence so we never got 100 per cent into our game,’ said Klopp (below). PSG conceded a penalty when Angel di Maria dived div in on Sadio Mane, but bu the referee needed n help from his assistant a behind the goal to award the spot kick. Earlier midfielder Marco M Verratti was lucky lu not to be sent off for a studs-up lunge on Joe G Gomez. ‘I saw th the penalty, it was inside the box but he didn’t even give a foul,’ said Klopp. ‘Then I saw the Marco Verratti foul and wow. We were not really good, but it was a tight game in a really important competition. We had five or six yellow cards which is crazy.’