WE ARE IN FINAL AND PEP’S NOT

V Klopp dig as barbs continue between ‘tense’ managers

JURGEN KLOPP has no issue with Pep Guardiola’s Liverpool comment, insisting that all is fair in love and title fights.

But the Reds manager did offer a mild barb of his own, by wondering if his Manchester City counterpart was stung by the fact the Reds had reached the Champions League final, while his own side were brutally eliminated in the semi-finals.

Guardiola stoked the fires by claiming the entire country wanted Liverpool to pip his side to the title and took a dig at their rivals’ record in having won just one in three decades.

Yet Klopp, speaking before he attempted to lift his side for the visit to Aston Villa tonight, brushed aside the controversy by admitting both managers were tense because of the epic battle between them.

“That is completely normal,” he said. “We all feel the tension, we cannot say we don’t feel it.

“After the Tottenham game it was not like I felt great, but before you can deal with your emotions you have faced 20 cameras already. That’s what happens and that’s what Pep did.

“It is all absolutely fine. I had this experience myself recently [calling Spurs negative after drawing with them on Saturday]. I don’t know exactly which situation Pep was in – after getting knocked out of the Champions League that is obviously already difficult enough to take.

“But then, of course, Liverpool made it to the final and then you have these things like, ‘They only played Villarreal, we played Real Madrid’ and then you say what you say. And he is right, on top of it.”

But Klopp wondered whether Guardiola was thinking straight when he claimed that everyone supported Liverpool, saying: “It is not the feeling I get when we go to other places and play there. It’s actually the opposite.

“I live in Liverpool so, yes, here a lot of people want us to win the league – that’s true – but even here it’s probably only 50 percent because the other people were involved in another fight, at least until yesterday [Everton beat Leicester on Sunday to ease relegation fears].

“I think we should take it as a back-handed compliment if he means it.”

Liverpool’s 1-1 draw with Spurs was a blow to their title hopes, and Klopp added: “The players’ mood is better. Look, there are obviously different perspectives.

“We can take it as it was and say, ‘We drew, City won’. It makes it three points [behind] and the goal difference has changed as well.

“Or you see it like this – that we were six points behind and they lost and we won. And the rest is exactly the same, and we would be flying and couldn’t wait to play Aston Villa to bring the next three points.

“As humans, we can decide for ourselves how we see it. We are allowed to ignore the facts. I try to create, try to help the boys, to see it like me and invite everyone else to see it – that’s important.”