
Football
Share
Published 11:01 17 Oct 2016 BST
Explore more on these topics:
(Photo by Clint Hughes/Getty Images)[/caption]
“I am not interested and absolutely not part of the group that says Jose Mourinho was or has been a good manager when he still is.”
Now let's look at what Mourinho was saying at almost the same time as he was being defended by Klopp.
The Portuguese was asked if Klopp reminded him of himself - particularly his animated style on the touchline during games.
Mourinho did not immediately leap to his rival's defence.
"I'm on the touchline to try to coach," came the terse reply. "I'm not on the touchline to..." he didn't finish the sentence with words, instead he flapped his hands about in the air.
[caption id="attachment_92200" align="alignnone" width="1024"]
Mourinho is not impressed by Klopp's touchline antics (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)[/caption]
Perhaps it's no wonder Mourinho is not impressed with Klopp - he has not fared well against the German in recent times. His Real Madrid side were hammered 4-1 by Klopp's Dortmund in a Champions League semi-final - a result that ended Mourinho's hopes of winning La Decima, and his career at the Bernabeu.
[caption id="attachment_92196" align="alignnone" width="1024"]
Jose Mourinho never won the European Cup with real Madrid (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)[/caption]
Then last season Klopp got his first Premier League win over Mourinho's faltering Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last year.
Klopp can afford to be magnanimous about his rival - so far be has got the better of him.
For Mourinho, this is strange territory. There aren't many managers who have bested him, save for Pep Guardiola, and he is responding in the same way he did to the ex-Barca man: doing him down in the press.
But will his old tactic work again?
Klopp's approach - inclusive, friendly, smiley - seems refreshing in contrast to Mourinho's spoiler tactics. In both cases their media game seems to mirror their tactical approach on the field.
The two resume hostilities this evening at Anfield, when the battle for the points - and the touchline - will begin again.
Catch up with the latest episode of Football Friday Live:
Football

How the final Premier League table would look if every refereeing error was erased
Things would have looked very different. Every major refereeing decision leading up to the final few weeks of the Premier League season have been analysed, to establish how things may have played out differently, had PGMO officials always made the correct calls, in an impressive new report from the Athletic. The 2025/26 season ultimately ended […]
Football
21h
Here’s why French fans riot – even when their team wins
It’s now an infamous tradition Following Paris Saint-Germain’s win in the Champions League final against Arsenal on Saturday, at least 780 people across France were arrested with more than 450 in custody, as football fans clashed with police. A person was found dead after an accident on Paris’s ring road, which rioters tried to block […]
Football
1 day ago
WATCH: Comical moment footballer is run over by his own medical team
Football