ZLATAN: WE GOT TACTICS WRONG

Herrera and nothing else. In the end it was (also) a yellow card for the guy who wanted to play football. It could have been even worse if someone wants to see it again.’

Mourinho’s assistant Rui Faria also became embroiled in the row, which happened after Zlatan Ibrahimovic had cancelled out James Milner’s first-half penalty.

Mourinho said: ‘ He ( Klopp) thought I was asking for his player to be sent off. I wasn’t. There was no problem at all.

‘The players gave everything but in an emotional and professional way, so the referee did well. There was aggression but it was good. We deserved more but the point is something everyone must accept.

‘They were clever. They took their time, they know how to play football and control the emotions. They knew they would be in trouble in the final few minutes.

‘They stopped our run of consecutive victories in the league, but they didn’t stop our run of being unbeatable for a long, long time.’

Klopp stoked the rivalry before kick- off by pointing out Mourinho had not extended the customary welcome to Liverpool in his column in the match programme.

He added: ‘I read the programme notes and it is the first time there was nothing about welcome to Liverpool or something like this. Then I wanted a coffee and in the can was only tea. It’s started already, yeah? It’s all OK. It’s football and we are ready.’

Ibrahimovic’s goal extended United’s unbeaten run to 16 games but the Swedish star admitted the home side got their tactics wrong before going more direct.

‘We were not feeling comfortable with the pressure. We played the wrong way,’ said Ibrahimovic. ‘If we played in the first half like we did in the second, it would have been a different game.’

On United’s tactics, Klopp said: ‘The ball was 25 minutes in the air. They play long balls, it was a wild game. We were here to win, which is why we are not satisfied.’