Klopp fires back at Guardiola over Mane criticism Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has hit back at Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola for his comments about Sadio Mane's 'diving' antics. The Reds headcoach has jumped to the defense of his winger, insisting that he is not a diver despite being subjected to criticism by the Spanish manager over the weekend.
In what was a hard-fought 2-1 victory at Aston Villa, Sadio Mane ultimately became Liverpool's hero by scoring a 94th-minute winner. However, prior to the Senegalese attacker's feat, he was shown a yellow card for simulation having gone down in the host's penalty area after being challenged by Frederic Guilbert.
Following Manchester City's 2-1 win over Southampton in the subsequent fixture of the day, Pep Guardiola singled Mane out for praise and concurrently questioned his theatricals. The words of the 48-year-old ex-Barcelona and Bayern Munich have since not been taken lightly by Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp who insists that the Reds' talisman is not a 'diver'.
"I don't know how he [Guardiola] could have known about any incident in our game so quickly after their game," Klopp said at a news conference ahead of Tuesday's Champions League clash with Genk.
"Sadio is not a diver. There was a situation in the Villa game when he got a contact and went down but there was contact.
"I am 100 per cent sure if something like this happened to Man City, they would want to have a penalty. I am absolutely not in the mood to talk about Man City. I really want to talk about Genk."
While Liverpool will welcome Genk to Anfield in Tuesday's Champions League clash, Manchester City will also battle Atalanta on Wednesday. The two clubs will subsequently lockhorns at Anfield with the an early title-decider schedule for Sunday.
