Jurgen Klopp breaks up Darwin Nunez and Pep Guardiola post-match spat
- Klopp and Liverpool's coaching staff interrupted heated exchange on touchline
- Trent Alexander-Arnold scored late Liverpool equaliser to earn a point
- Both managers play down significance of post-match incident
Jurgen Klopp had to separate Darwin Nunez from Pep Guardiola in the immediate aftermath of Liverpool's 1-1 draw at Manchester City, though both bosses played down the incident after the game.
Trent Alexander-Arnold's low drive rescued a point for Liverpool after Erling Haaland opened the scoring for the champions, becoming the fastest player to reach 50 Premier League goals in the process.
The result leaves the pair still separated by only a point in the league table, with the visitors resilience frustrating the home side who had a Ruben Dias goal chalked off when the score was 1-0.
But attention quickly turned to an apparent exchange between Nunez and Guardiola after the final whistle - one that required Klopp and other members of Liverpool's coaching staff to step forward and intervene.
""I'm not sure I'm the one who should explain it, to be honest, because I was absolutely not involved – surprisingly!" Klopp said when it was raised in his post-match press conference.
"I love them both, so I tried to calm the situation down, without knowing 100 percent what happened because I didn't understand a word. That's it. I really think it's nothing more than what’s already sorted, to be honest. It's emotional. Pep wants to win, we want to win. Both didn't win, so there's obviously nobody really happy and then these things can happen."
Guardiola also played down the incident when addressing the media, telling reporters: “Nothing happened,” he said. “He [Klopp] is stronger than me. Nothing happened. It’s not frustration. I’m really pleased. If you talk about that in the second question of the press conference, you are not on my good side. Maybe for the last question I’ll answer, but nothing happened."
Klopp also told BBC Sport how pleased he was to come away from the Etihad Stadium with a point, admitting his side weren't at their best but did what was required to come away from a difficult game with a share of the spoils.
"If we had played really well, we could have won. This is a really tough place to come and it is a not a coincidence they have won I don't know how many in a row at home. They are a super team," he said.
"When we had our football moments, we immediately created [chances]. Did we do that often enough? No. Can we play better? Definitely. And we will. But for today, this was a super important experience for the group.
"It has been a tough week for the boys and then coming here to play a game against a team that really makes you suffer is not cool. It is difficult to stay in the game, but we had our moments and I like that a lot. It is a good point and I am absolutely fine with it."
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