Klopp rages as Liverpool press conference disrupted by Toulouse supporters

09 November 2023 , 21:01

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Klopp rages as Liverpool press conference disrupted by Toulouse supporters

Jurgen Klopp was left incensed as his post-match press conference was disturbed by Toulouse supporters after Liverpool's Europa League defeat.

The Reds saw their 100 per cent start to the group stage come to an end after dramatic 3-2 defeat following a particularly abject display in France.

Liverpool, who beat Toulouse 5-1 a fortnight ago, had trailed at the break and fell 2-0 down soon after the restart after an impressive finish from Thijs Dallinga. The visitors got back in it through an own goal but Toulouse almost immediately extended their two-goal advantage.

Diogo Jota then set up a grandstand finish and Liverpool thought they had somehow rescued a point through Jarell Quansah but Alexis Mac Allister was adjudged to have handled the ball much earlier in the move by VAR.

Klopp bemoaned his side's performance but was riled up by UEFA's decision to hold his press conference in a media tent outside of the stadium.

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"We were as organised as this press conference, pretty chaotic," Klopp said before the conference turned into bedlam as home supporters left the match.

They could be heard chanting and banging on the tent with an angry Klopp unable to hear questions from journalists or translations from an interpreter. He continued to turn his head towards Liverpool officials before hitting out at: "Who had the idea to do the press conference here? Wow."

UEFA rules state the home club is responsible for providing 'necessary infrastructure and services' for press conferences for both managers.

Klopp was left furious by the staging of the press conference

Despite the disturbance, Klopp was able to address the controversial disallowed goal but admitted he was more bothered about his side's lacklustre display on the back of the draw with Luton.

"I have seen the video and I don't think it was handball. The ball hits his chest first and it was pretty long ago before the goal we scored," Klopp said. "We could talk about it but I am more concerned about our levels.

"We have to be better and be more aggressive. We deserved to lose because they won all the decisive challenges and battles. We weren't good enough defensively to concede three goals and they had two more disallowed.

"We cannot concede those chances. The result is not good and the performance was not good enough. I don't want to accept it. I would have loved to get a point but I would have said the exact same about how we played."

Liverpool stay top of their Europa League group with the defeat and will still expect to qualify with matches against LASK and Union Saint-Gilloise to come. They are back in domestic action against Brentford at Anfield on Sunday.

Liam Prenderville