Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp told a reporter he was not ‘in great shape’ after the Reds were beaten by Man Utd last month.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has explained how a question over his side’s intensity in their FA Cup defeat against Manchester United prompted him to snap at a reporter. In a viral clip, Klopp bizarrely told the journalist that he was “not in great shape” before storming away from Old Trafford’s interview area.
The German felt that the question lacked the context around how many games each side had played in the build-up to the cup tie. Amad Diallo’s last-minute strike sealed a thrilling 4-3 victory in mid-March.
Klopp knew that his side would not have the energy to match United’s intensity in the game due to a packed schedule of matches in the preceding weeks. He says that is why he snapped at the reporter for asking about his side’s intensity – although his comment did not refer to the individual’s weight.
“There was this famous interview afterwards – I’d like to say I was out of the country thankfully [for the fall-out] but I wasn’t, I stayed in the country,” Klopp said before another trip to Man Utd.
“But I knew what would happen, actually. I was really calm after the game, I was not even angry, because I knew that, yes, we had to win it in this period. The first 15-20 minutes United were there, really aggressive and scored the goal. But then we took over and it was the best we played against them for a while for sure.
“In similar situations there was really good football without scoring. And then, after 90 minutes, I saw minute by minute that it was too much.
“It was the end of this intense spell, after all the games we played, and now extra time was the killer for us. That’s why I said after the game that it was the first time I saw us struggling.
“But I was not angry. And then the guy asked me about intensity and that was just when it snapped. As if anybody would be interested in the intensity or why you cannot keep up the intensity with them?
“United played I don’t know how many less games than we had until then. But the game was brilliant in moments, absolutely brilliant, but we did not have the legs that day obviously to use it.”
Liverpool head back to Old Trafford in the Premier League on Sunday. The Reds are top of the league after overcoming Sheffield United on Thursday night. They are two points ahead of Arsenal and three ahead of Manchester City with eight matches remaining.
