Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has admitted that he went "over the top" after receiving a red card in Sunday's 1-0 Premier League win over Manchester City.
The German was infuriated when a perceived foul on Mohamed Salah right in front of the linesman was not given, and he gave the official an earful in the wake of the incident.
Anthony Taylor sent Klopp to the stands as Liverpool saw out a fiery 1-0 win, with Salah scoring the game's only goal in the 76th minute to end the champions' unbeaten run.
The victory lifts Liverpool up to eighth in the table - six points adrift of the top four - and while Klopp has acknowledged that his behaviour was worthy of a sending off, he was still left bemused at the linesman's failure to call for a foul on Salah.
"Yeah, it's about emotion, of course. So, of course, red card, my fault," Klopp said in his post-game press conference. " 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."
© Reuters
Prior to Salah's game-winning strike, Man City had a goal disallowed not long after the restart, as Erling Braut Haaland tugged on Fabinho's shirt before Phil Foden ghosted in to slot home off Joe Gomez.
Pep Guardiola cut a furious figure on the touchline as the goal was ruled out, and Klopp has revealed that he shared his managerial counterpart frustrations on Taylor's management of the game.
"So, I don't know what Pep [Guardiola] 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?" Klopp added.
"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."
Liverpool had already lost Ibrahima Konate to a fresh muscular problem before the game, while Trent Alexander-Arnold was only able to make the bench following an ankle injury.
© Reuters
Joe Gomez and James Milner performed admirably in their teammates' absences, but the game ended on a sour note as Diogo Jota was stretchered off just before full time.
Klopp was pessimistic on the Portuguese's condition after the match, and Liverpool now face an anxious wait to learn the severity of his apparent muscular injury.
"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," Klopp said when asked for an update on Jota.
"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."
The Anfield clash was also marred by incidences of crowd disorder, and Liverpool released a statement condemning "vile chants" about stadium disasters from the away end.
Meanwhile, City boss Guardiola claimed to have been the target of coins thrown from the home crowd as his side fell four points behind Arsenal in the Premier League table.
Ben Knapton
