Liverpool legend casts verdict after Jurgen Klopp ‘scares’ journalist; ‘yelling and screaming’ heard after Man Utd loss

Phil Thompson has leapt to the defence of Jurgen Klopp after the Liverpool manager stormed out of an interview following Sunday’s FA Cup defeat to Man Utd.

Liverpool came out on the wrong side of a thrilling FA Cup quarter-final tie last weekend, with Amad Diallo scoring in the dying seconds of extra time to send Man Utd to the semis.

The defeat ended Liverpool’s hopes of winning the quadruple, with Klopp’s side in the hunt for the Premier League and Europe League titles having already scooped the Carabao Cup last month.

Klopp was caught storming out of an interview with Viaplay after the match after taking an exception to a question about his team’s intensity in extra time.

The reporter said: “Normally, intensity is the name of your game so how come it became so difficult in extra time?”

Klopp responded: “That’s a bit of a dumb question. If you see us often, you can ask us the other times why we have so much energy.

“I don’t know how many games we’ve had recently and how many Manchester United have had. That’s sport.

“I’m really disappointed about that question, but you thought obviously it’s good.”

To which the reporter added: “So, too many games?”

A furious Klopp then responded: “Oh, you don’t think that. Come on! You are obviously not in a great shape and I have no nerves for you.”

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Appearing on talkSPORT, Thompson – who made 340 appearances for Liverpool between 1971 and 1984 and later served as assistant manager to Gerard Houllier – expressed his sympathy for Klopp, claiming too many media demands are placed on managers in the modern era.

He said:  “You’re asking a question when surely if you watch football and know football and you see Liverpool’s fixture list that they’ve had then you’d understand what he was saying.

“The number of games, the number of injuries and how they’ve all piled up – to ask a question like that, I think you would get prickly.

“I don’t know how they do it now. There’s so many interviews to do after the game and trying to think of something and give something – maybe it was just one interview too many for him.

“I’ve been in that position myself for six months and it’s hard. You’re trying to do something different and give a little bit more back and managers, I feel for them.

“Not just Jurgen Klopp but all managers because they’ve got to go to all of these interviews – they’ve got their own TV channels, they’ve got other TV channels and overseas rights – how they do it is beyond me.”

Thompson’s comments come after new footage of Klopp’s interaction with the journalist surfaced on social media, with the pair having another exchange of words after the interview had ended.

Niels Christian Frederiksen, the reporter in question, shed more light on the incident, claiming Klopp had “yelled and screamed” at him off camera with onlookers left “scared” by the Liverpool manager’s furious reaction.

Frederiksen told Tipsbladet: “I was very surprised by it, and those standing around were scared, and they were almost pressed up against the wall like: ‘Wow, what the hell just happened here?’

“It continued after what was seen on TV. He continued down the hallway, where he yelled and screamed at me. I also followed him because I thought it was something strange.

“I was very surprised, while some looked very shocked, and they asked: ‘Are you OK?’

Of course I’m OK. I have interviewed Jurgen many times.

I don’t know him personally, but I’ve been to Mainz several times when Leon Andreasen and Mohamed Zidan were there, and I have also interviewed him in Dortmund and many times during his time in Liverpool. So we don’t have a bad relationship at all.

“I know that when you’re one of the world’s best coaches, and you have been for years, it doesn’t come if you’re not the world’s worst loser. The premise of being a good coach is that you don’t like to lose and that you are a winner.”

“I interpret it mostly as an expression of his terrible frustration that they lost to Manchester United in the manner it happened, where they were ahead twice and should have sealed the deal.

“His dream scenario was to play an FA Cup final at Wembley in his last match in England and that’s been taken from him now. So I can understand he’s super frustrated.

Then he got a question he didn’t think was appropriate. It’s been a theme for them that they’ve had many injuries and many matches, which he has complained about. Then he got a question about why they didn’t have intensity in the game, and then he snapped. That’s fair enough. I have absolutely no problem with that.

“There will be absolutely no problems in the future. I can’t imagine that at all. When I interview him again, we’ll still be good friends – professionally speaking.

“I don’t think he holds a grudge, and I certainly don’t.”

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