By Tom Sanders
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has escalated the war of words between him and Pep Guardiola ahead of Sunday's title clash at Anfield.
Speaking at a press conference, Klopp stated that he was taken by surprise by his rival's comments about Saido Mane last weekend and claimed that Guardiola was becoming fixated on Liverpool.
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In an unusual series of events, Guardiola dedicated his post-match interview to criticizing Liverpool following his side's 2-1 victory over Southampton on Saturday, claiming that Mane had a 'special talent' for diving.
When asked his thoughts on Pep's comments, Klopp admitted that he was not impressed- and responded with a pop of his own.
"I couldn't really believe it to be honest and then I saw it," said Klopp on Monday, ahead of his side's Champions League clash with Genk. '
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"I am not sure if Pep spoke in that moment about Sadio or the team - both is not too nice to be honest."
"I am not too sure if I want to put oil on the fire. I am not interested in these kind of things. And I promise not to mention tactical fouls."
"That is maybe already too much. I can say Sadio is not a diver. There was a situation in the Aston Villa game where he got contact and went down.
"Maybe it was not a penalty but there was contact. It's not like jumping over a leg and acting like he hit you or whatever. All the other penalties were penalties because he was in that situation.
"I am 100 per cent sure if something like this happened for Manchester City they would want to have a penalty, because somebody kicked their player in the box and that's a penalty."
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Klopp also seemed to take a pointed dig at Guardiola, questioning why the City boss was talking about Liverpool seconds after his game finished at the weekend.
"I have no clue," he said. "Do I get asked as well as much about Man City? I don't know. After our game I really had no clue what the other Premier League results were. I didn't think for one second about the other games. That is the truth."
Topics: Manchester City, Liverpool, Pep Guardiola, mcfc, Guardiola, Klopp, Man City, Jurgen Klopp