“He never took losing well” - Mark Clattenburg on ‘strange bloke’ Jurgen Klopp

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has been branded a sour loser by former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg. The retired official recalled a couple of moments when he clashed with the German tactician in his recently released autobiography.

He wrote:

“Jurgen Klopp. Brilliant manager. Sour loser. I first came across him in April 2014. His Borussia Dortmund side lost 3-0 at Real Madrid in a Champions League quarter-final first leg. After the game, I came out of my dressing room and Real defender Marcelo and his wife asked for a picture. It was a private picture on their phone so I said yeah, no problem."

“Klopp walked past just as the photo was being taken. ‘Oh, so that’s why we got beat, is it?’ he said. He was not being humorous or friendly, he was being sarky. It annoyed me when managers could not be gracious in defeat. Klopp never took losing well. When he was winning he was happy, he was good fun. When things were not going his way, he got prickly," revealed Clattenburg.

“My final game with Klopp was in January 2017 against Chelsea at Anfield. Managers rarely came into my dressing room for the exchange of team sheets an hour before kick-off. On this occasion, Klopp came in with Jordan Henderson. It was bizarre, he stood and stared at me for about 30 seconds. I just stared back at him. I could see Jordan was a bit like, ‘What the hell’s going on?’ Did Klopp think I was stupid? I was not going to be bullied by him. He left and all I thought was: ‘What a strange bloke,’" he said of the Liverpool boss.

Liverpool are on an impressive run of results

Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool off to a flying start

Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool have entered the new campaign on a brilliant note with a couple of impressive results at domestic and continental levels. The Reds are joint-first in the Premier League table, tied with Chelsea at 13 points. They've recorded four victories and one draw in their five games so far in the English top flight.

Jurgen Klopp's men also got their Champions League campaign off to a promising start with 3-2 triumph over AC Milan last week. The tactician will be hoping for another impressive result when Liverpool take on Norwich City in the Carling Cup tomorrow.