Jurgen Klopp has admitted that he “deserved a yellow card” for his touchline row with Mikel Arteta in Liverpool’s 4-0 win over Arsenal on Saturday evening. Now, Klopp has addressed the situation and conceded that he was right to be booked.
Jurgen Klopp said: “It was a completely clean situation. Two players jumped in the air. And the bench of Arsenal is going for whatever. And I just asked ‘what do you want for that?’ I’m really sick of these situations. Everyone goes for Sadio. It was about the situation that it was no foul from Sadio [Mane] but the Arsenal bench went up like it was a red card. I asked what they want in that situation. We had to take Sadio off against Atletico [Madrid in the Champions League] because they wanted him to get a yellow card. The referee did really well in that situation – I deserved a yellow card. It wasn’t not OK and that is what I said. It just happened in the moment.”
Arteta was also asked about the incident, but the Spaniard inevitably played it down, saying: “He was trying to defend his side, I was trying to defend mine. I think the atmosphere was incredible from the beginning. That was it.” The defeat for Arsenal ends their 10-match undefeated run in all competitions, and Arteta thinks that Liverpool demonstrated the level they are at on Saturday evening and that Arsenal are still some way off their rivals.
Mikel Arteta said: “I’ve seen the biggest teams in the world come here and collapse. They were better than us for 96 minutes and that’s the level. They’ve been together for six years and you can see that.”
Next up for Arsenal is a Premier League clash with Newcastle United next weekend, with Arteta keen to see a reaction from his squad after what happened in Liverpool.
