Jurgen Klopp has expressed his displeasure with Wolves fans who mocked their team’s title plight at Anfield, stating he ‘didn’t comprehend how they could be so nasty’.
Liverpool needed to defeat Manchester City on the last day, and while they ultimately beat Wolves 3-1, City fought back from a 2-0 deficit to overcome Aston Villa 3-2 and win the Premier League title by a single point.
When word of City’s goals arrived, away fans celebrated, insulting the home audience, who were anxiously waiting for positive news from the Etihad.
They also spread a false rumour that Villa had tied the game at 3-3, prompting Liverpool fans to start cheering and hugging each other, believing an unlikely comeback had been completed, with Reds star Mohamed Salah looking ecstatic after scoring before being informed by a fan that the score was actually 3-2 to City.
However, their elation was short-lived, with players such as Takumi Minamino asking the crowd to calm down and Virgil van Dijk appearing enraged, while Klopp questioned why Wolves fans would behave in this manner.
‘I clearly wasn’t in that circumstance, I didn’t know 100% what was going on,’ he added. I noticed Aston Villa were ahead…’ First and foremost, congratulations to Man City. Pep Guardiola, his whole staff, and the entire City team for winning a difficult race. That is the situation. If you want to win big, you must be willing to lose large as well. We dropped the league today, not the game.
‘Obviously, the mood is extremely, very depressed. After 10 minutes, I’d love City to be 5-0 up. When things are this up and down, as when it was 3-2 and then someone announced it was 3-3, I think we have a chance to win.’
When asked if the tsunami of applause that swept around Anfield offered him fleeting optimism, the German said yes.
‘Yeah, sure, yeah,’ he said. When City scores, I don’t understand how Wolverhampton supporters can rejoice. I’m not sure what to make of such emotions. But it wasn’t wholly unexpected; we had anticipated it.’
‘Klopp on 5 live stating he can’t understand why Wolves supporters are applauding City’s goals,’ one Wolves fan commented on Twitter, followed by nine cry-laughing emojis.
After Pedro Neto handed the Midlands side an early lead, Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah, and Andy Robertson scored to turn the game around – but City had done the same against Villa.