Klopp defends Mane after diver accusations

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Reds boss springs to defence of winger

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has dismissed Manchester City counterpart Pep Guardiola’s claim that Sadio Mane is a diver.

And instead of getting dragged into a psychological war ahead of the Premier League’s top two sides meeting at Anfield on Sunday, Klopp stated he was “not in the mood to talk about Man City”.

Mane was booked after going down in the area under a challenge by Frederic Guilbert before going on score a stoppage-time winner at Aston Villa on Saturday, and afterwards City boss Guardiola said of the Senegal international: “Sometimes he’s diving, sometimes he has this talent to score incredible goals in the last minute”.

Klopp brushed it off, saying: “I am not 100% sure if he spoke about Sadio or us in general.

“I didn’t hear Sadio’s name or know how we could have known so quick about any incident in the game.

“I can say Sadio is not a diver. There was a situation in the Aston Villa game where he got contact and went down, maybe it was not a penalty but there was contact, it’s not as if he jumped over a leg and went down.”

Klopp refused to countenance talk about Sunday’s clash with City – currently six points behind the Reds – with a Champions League home tie with Genk tonight to negotiate.

“I am absolutely not in the mood today to talk about Man City,” he added.

Asked if he was banning the words ‘Manchester City’ until after tonight’s match Klopp said: “You can say the words Man City, you just cannot think about it.”

Klopp has no new injury concerns. His biggest decision appears to be in midfield, where he is likely to bring back Fabinho having left him out at the weekend to avoid him getting a booking which would have ruled him out of Sunday’s game against Manchester City.

Captain Jordan Henderson could be rested, having played 90 minutes at Villa Park, so James Milner may come in.

Meanwhile Frank Lampard has warned Chelsea he expects an even tougher encounter with Ajax tonight than they faced in Amsterdam.

The Blues registered arguably their finest result under Lampard when they beat last season’s Champions League semi-finalists 1-0 last month.

Michy Batshuayi’s late strike drew Chelsea level with the Dutch champions at the top of Group H, and another win tonight would leave them with one foot in the next round.

However, Lampard said: “I wouldn’t like to say that until that foot is officially in the next round.

“I said at the start that this group would be tight because all the teams could take points off each other. That has been proved to be correct.

“We’ve had two good results and another one would be great for us with two games left, but we must understand that even though we are at home now, the quality and the danger from Ajax is as much, if not more, than the game we played away because they are such a good, technical team.

N’Golo Kante is back in the Blues squad for the visit of Ajax.

The France midfielder has suffered an injury-hit season so far, but has shaken off a groin problem in time to face the Dutch champions, who reached last season’s semi-finals where they were edged out by Tottenham.