Mourinho says he took off Lo Celso as Reds were trying to get Argentine sent off

Jose Mourinho has hit out at Jurgen Klopp again in the aftermath of Tottenham's defeat against Liverpool, insisting he was forced to substitute Giovani Lo Celso as the opposition bench were trying to get the midfielder sent off.

Roberto Firmino's 90th minute winner sealed three vital points for the champions on Wednesday night, but Mourinho sparked a heated post-match dialogue with Klopp by insisting that the 'best team lost'.

Trent Alexander-Arnold has since directly responded to Mourinho's jibe on social media, but Mourinho had a fresh bone to pick with Klopp and Liverpool's staff on the touchline regarding Lo Celso, after previously claiming he would be censured if he acted in the same animated way as Liverpool's manager.

'At half-time we moved a little bit the pieces to try and improve, which we did,' Mourinho said.

'The tactical changes were to try to give Gio Lo Celso more space coming from the right to start having a little bit more of the ball and find counter-attack situations, which we did immediately in the first 10 minutes.

'With this yellow card and the behaviour of these guys they have on the touchline, putting incredible pressure on referees I feared for a possible second yellow card.

'And Gio was playing exactly in front of their bench in an area that very dangerous. So I was afraid of the yellow card and I had to take him off.'

Lo Celso came off with the game finely poised at 1-1, in the 58th minute and was replaced by Lucas Moura.

Mourinho could not hide his disappointment after the match and insisted Tottenham would have been aggrieved had the match ended in a draw, let alone a defeat.

'The best team lost and he disagreed but that's his opinion,' Mourinho said.

'By the way, if I behave on the touchline like he does then I'm not there. Come on, that's animated. Do you want to take the table with the time from the fourth official? I'm saying for some reason I'm different and I'm sad.

'I think even a draw would have left us not with the best taste because we had them there to win it.

'It was not just about the big chances it was the moments of the big chances and the moment was when they were in trouble in their worst moment and we had it there to kill it but we missed it.

'Normally at matches at this level you pay and I thought we would pay just taking a point.

'In the end we didn't even take a point, so it is very disappointing. But looking at the performance I am happy with the team, with the proposal of going to a match to win it.'