Klopp hits out at Jose in dive row

JOSE MOURINHO and Jurgen Klopp were involved in a furious bust-up yesterday after the Liverpool manager accused his rival of trying to get Roberto Firmino sent off at Old Trafford.

The clash came towards the end of a 1-1 draw between Manchester United and their old enemy when Ander Herrera pulled Firmino back by the shirt and went down clutching his face as the Brazil forward lashed out.

Fourth official Craig Pawson had to separate Mourinho and Klopp as they confronted each other on the touchline, with the German angrily rejecting the offer of a handshake.

Referee Michael Oliver booked both players, and Klopp said: ‘He (Mourinho) wanted the minimum of a yellow card. We could not have the same opinion. I think the ref whistled before anything else happened.

‘Roberto is a footballer from head to toe and he wanted to stay in the game. That was a yellow card for 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 a 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. We were here to win, which is why we are not satisfied.’