download All Football App

Klopp hits back at suggestions from Guardiola and insists Mane is not a diver

  /  autty

Jurgen Klopp hit back at suggestions from Pep Guardiola that Sadio Mane is a diver as he defended Liverpool's star man.

The Manchester City boss accused the Senegalese of 'sometimes diving' after he was booked for simulation in Liverpool's weekend win over Aston Villa.

But Klopp insisted in no uncertain terms on Monday: 'Sadio is not a diver'.

'I've tried to say pretty much nothing about it. I'm not in a Man City mood. I'm not 100 per cent sure he spoke about Sadio and not us in general', he said ahead of Tuesday night's visit of Genk.

'I didn't hear Sadio's name, I don't know how he could have known about any incident in the game so quickly after what happened there. People from other clubs are always like this, that's how it is. But Sadio is not a diver.

'There was a situation in the Aston Villa game where he got a contact and went down, maybe it wasn't a penalty but there was contact. It's not like jumping over a leg and doing like he hit you.

'All the penalties in other games were penalties because he was in that situation and stayed there.

'I'm 100 per cent sure if something happened like this for Man City they would want a penalty because somebody kicked the player in the box and it's a penalty.

'I'm absolutely not in a mood to talk about Man City'.

He brushed aside any fears that his players would not treat the Champions League tie with Genk seriously with the City showdown lurking on Sunday.

'I don't have to tell the boys. The story the boys wrote in the last three years was only possible because we were always focused on the next game.

'No one has to tell the boys it's City on Sunday. We have big ambitions in this competition, it's an open group.

'We have to be 100 per cent tomorrow night and make life as uncomfortable as possible for Genk. We have to get these three points. That only works if you are 100 per cent focused on it.

'For the people in the stadium very important we are in that game tomorrow night. I don't doubt my players at all. I would feel embarrassed if I had to tell them don't think about Man City, but I don't have to do that.'