Michail Antonio reveals what West Ham bench heard Jurgen Klopp tell Mo Salah during touchline row
West Ham striker Michail Antonio explained what was said between Mo Salah and Jurgen Klopp during their infamous touchline confrontation in Liverpool’s draw against West Ham.
The Reds’ 2-2 draw with West Ham last week was marred by a touchline spat between Klopp and Salah.
The Egyptian had been dropped for the game and clashed with his manager as he prepared to come on as a 79th-minute substitute.
The point leaves Liverpool, who are also eliminated from the Europa League, five points adrift of Premier League leaders Arsenal.
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And speaking on his Footballer’s Football Podcast, Antonio explained what he believed was said during the confrontation between the Liverpool icons.
“Basically - this is not inside information, nobody has told me anything - but what I have heard is what the boys have been talking about on the training ground (at West Ham)," said the forward.
"As the (Liverpool) players come on, Klopp always gives them a big hug and says 'good luck', but when Mo came on he walked in a different direction and was doing his shinpads and stuff like that.
“Klopp has put his hand out to him and his hand was there for a bit and as Mo stopped doing what he was doing, he just slapped his (Klopp's) hand as a high five.
"Obviously Klopp didn’t like that and he was like, ‘Do you want to sit back down?’, basically saying, 'Do you want to go on?'. And nobody has told me what Mo said back."
Antonio added that he believes the incident has been blown out of proportion.
"It's one of those things because they (Liverpool) are not performing it's going to be amplified," he said.
"Knowing who they are and how well they've done this season and basically the title could be drifting away from them, tensions are going to be high, there is going to be a lot of frustration and I feel like they are only human so these things are bound to happen."
Meanwhile, professional lip reader John Cassidy studied footage of Klopp and Salah's row for SPORTbible and came to the following conclusion regarding what was said: "When Klopp tried to shake hands with Salah, Salah just feebly slapped Klopp's hand.
"Salah said, 'There's nothing I can do about that, nothing.'
"Klopp's reply was obscured, indicating Salah wasn't ready as quickly as Klopp liked it to be. Klopp walked over and irritated Salah by saying something to him.
"Salah then said, 'I will, I will get a red card, after seven years, after seven years' service, after seven years!' He then got ushered away by Nunez."
Chris Byfield