A wonderful Mohamed Salah goal in the 76th minute that was assisted by Alisson Becker in scenes reminiscent of their famous strike against Manchester United in January 2020 proved decisive in another breath-taking clash between the teams.
The winner came after Phil Foden had seen a goal disallowed following a VAR review and before Klopp was sent off amid a raucous Anfield atmosphere on Sunday afternoon.
Read a summary of the manager’s post-match press conference below.
On how Liverpool’s gameplan played out and the mentality showed by his team…
Good and very good. So, I think on a normal day you should not even try against City, play your normal against them and hope that you get something from it [is not enough]. You have to play to your limits and further, that’s what we did. We defended in an extremely well organised but very passionate way, closed the right gaps, challenged in the right areas and – because this still happens, and that’s the biggest challenge against City – they still get through. They still get to the touchline, they still have an incredible amount of players in the box and how we defended the box, and especially the six-yard box, was absolutely exceptional because I think we all know, in these games you all know the City goals when they arrive there and they have the square pass and one is waiting free in front of the goal. We did it really well. So it was a top performance from all the boys and that’s why we could win it.
On whether his red card was due to the emotion of the occasion…
Yeah, it’s about emotion of course. So, of course, red card, my fault. I went over the top in the moment, I don’t think I was disrespectful to anybody but when you look at the pictures back – I know myself for 55 years that the way I look in these moments is already worth a red card. I know that, who cares what I say. I lost it in that moment and that is not OK, but I think a little bit as an excuse I would like to mention, how can you not whistle that foul? How on earth is it possible? And I wish I could get an explanation. So, I don’t know what Pep said now in here, probably not a lot, probably very disappointed or frustrated or whatever. But during the game we agreed completely that Anthony Taylor just let the things run. Why would you do that? Both teams, it was not one, but I heard now that people said it was Anfield that made the VAR decision [to disallow Foden’s goal]. With a foul on Mo, Anfield had no chance to make any impact. It’s a foul on Fabinho [in the lead up to Foden’s goal], I think we agree on that. Is it not enough to pull somebody down? Then Ali has the hand on the ball, so that’s a save, how I understand it… imagine now if it hadn’t [disallowed the goal], now we would sit here and sit about three situations where he should have whistled the situation. Then you would think, ‘OK, that’s now really unlucky.’
So there was already the first moment where Pep and I were pretty animated, both, but actually for the same reason to be 100 per cent honest. For the same reason, we were not arguing with each other, not at all. Then that situation, I just had the perfect view, and the linesman, and you can imagine we are 1-0 up and we have a free-kick there or a counter-attack there. That is pretty much a 100 per cent difference and that was when I snapped and again I am not proud of that, but it happened.
On Salah’s more central role and the injury sustained by Jota in stoppage time…
Yeah, Mo played an exceptional game. Absolutely outstanding. Yes, obviously he was one of two strikers in the centre together with Bobby. Great, an absolutely top performance. The goal was world class. Again, a colleague of yours asked me if I think we were a bit lucky in that moment because Cancelo missed the ball. I didn’t see a player missing the ball, I saw a player using his body extremely well and being there in the one-on-one situation with the goalie. So, a top-class goal. The situation immediately before was really unlucky that he didn’t score there already. Apart from that, good on the ball, a constant threat in behind, working extremely hard, an outstanding performance, honestly. It was really good.
Diogo, I wish I wouldn’t have to talk about it. I saw it on the side on the screen, I am the first who saw it. When I saw he goes down and there was not a lot of contact, you can see a little bit that somebody kicks his foot and maybe the muscle got overstretched, 96 minutes, that’s not good for the muscle. He felt it immediately and now we have to wait to see how bad it is.
On Salah's number showing up on the fourth official's board but him remaining on the pitch...
I really find this question interesting. Tell me your thoughts about that: [do] you think we put 11 up, so Mo has to get subbed and he comes to and tells me 'I don't want to leave the pitch' or whatever? How could that happen? What is the logical explanation for that? Yes [it was a mistake], the wrong number on the board - that's exactly it. I wanted to talk to Mo because his role changed; Darwin came on and Mo played more of a 10 around Darwin, and Darwin was the one for in behind more. Obviously, Mo didn't come in the first place and was disappointed because he saw the number but I didn't know about any kind of '11' on the board. When I saw that, we could change it - and we changed it.
On Joe Gomez's performance...
It’s just great for Joey that he can show what a player he is. Outstanding, outstanding talent, a great player and can play different positions, obviously. Today was sensational, a mature performance together with Virgil and the two full-backs. I'd like to mention - and it's fine, Joey deserves all the praise - but I am pretty sure before the game a lot of people thought, 'Oh, James Milner against Phil Foden.' The way James Milner played was absolutely unbelievable. Joey as well. He was the right side and did pretty well, Robbo was there with a top-class game and Virgil as well. Then in the moments when we needed Ali, he was there as well. Our defensive line, it was for sure the best game they played this season. It was good, the timing was nearly perfect - that’s the way we have to defend. Now we have three days for recovery pretty much and then we play West Ham. Then we have to go again and they will ask for absolutely everything as well. The next tough game is waiting.