Jurgen Klopp has dismissed his touchline ‘fight’ with Frank Lampard as part of being ‘in the game’ as Liverpool downed Chelsea 5-3 at Anfield and lifted the Premier League title.
Klopp and Lampard had a bust-up during the first half of the match after the Chelsea boss strongly disagreed with a free-kick given against Blues midfielder Mateo Kovacic.
Kovacic was booked for the foul on Sadio Mane, but it looked like he did get the ball and the Chelsea and Liverpool benches exchanged heated words. Lampard was riled by Reds coach Pep Ljinders, but also directed some verbals at Klopp.
The Liverpool boss said after the game that he didn’t expect to be so emotionally involved in the game and for his team to put in such a shift, with nothing on the line for them and with Chelsea still fighting for Champions League qualification.
However, he was thrilled to get lost in the moment, secure the wild win, and the barney with Lampard was all part of it.
‘I can say in the [pre-match] meeting whatever I want I said a lot of stuff today,’ Klopp told Sky Sports.
‘It was a free choice. If you want to win you have to work hard. You don’t care? You don’t have to go out because Chelsea is too good and their target is too high for what they do.
‘And then going out and playing a game like that I surprised myself to be honest.
‘How can you put a shift in like that in a situation like this?
‘I was angry during the game and my plan was not to be angry. I was really…I had a fight with Frank Lampard stuff like this.
‘We don’t plan this it’s just we are in the game and 5-3 is a perfect result to be honest.’
Salt was rubbed into the wound for Lampard as Trent Alexander-Arnold curled in a wonderful free-kick after the Kovacic foul to give Liverpool a 2-0 lead.
The Reds bench celebrated wildly, but Klopp immediately told them to calm down and both the German and Lampard appeared to have buried the hatchet by the final whistle as the Chelsea boss was congratulating Liverpool’s title winners in the dressing room after the game.
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