07 October 2023 , 05:17
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Rio Ferdinand has hit back at Jurgen Klopp on social media following the Liverpool manager's light-hearted dig at Gary Neville and his brother, Phil.
After a taxing week, Klopp was all smiles as his side beat Union Saint-Gilloise in the Europa League on Thursday night, with goals from Ryan Gravenberch and Diogo Jota sealing a comfortable 2-0 win. The match was memorable for other reasons, though, with Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister coming face-to-face with his brother, Kevin.
Like many others, Klopp was excited by the meeting between the two siblings. Speaking in his post-match press conference, he said: “It’s the first time that two brothers played against each other in world football or whatever it felt like, it’s a really nice story.”
He was, of course, overlooking the fact that the Neville brothers played against one another after Phil Neville left Manchester United to join Everton. Once this was pointed out to Klopp, the Liverpool manager quipped: “Well nobody was interested in that obviously. Sorry, that was a penalty I had to take that!”
Ferdinand played alongside both of the Neville brothers during his trophy-laden stint at Manchester United, and the Old Trafford favourite hit back at Klopp on social media.
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Quoting a post of Klopp's cheeky comments, Ferdinand said: "Only 14 Premier League titles between the Neville households," complete with the eyes emoji and a laughing face.
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Liverpool got back to winning ways in Europe following their controversial loss against Tottenham last weekend. And after a week dominated by talk of VAR, Klopp is out to "put things right" against Brighton; a side who have beaten the Reds twice already this calendar year.
After being pummelled 3-0 by the Seagulls in the Premier League, Liverpool were also knocked out of the FA Cup by Roberto De Zerbi's side back in January. Klopp made it clear, though, that Brighton would be facing a different Liverpool team this time around.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of Sunday's game, he said: "If we play like we did last year, then we will get a massive knock again, but I think we will play better. That's the first step.
"I am really looking forward to it, and we have to put a few things right. We should not let it happen again. It can - because they are really good - but we will do a really big try to make sure it does not."