Former Liverpool defender reveals what really happened with James Milner dressing room 'fight'

Ragnar Klavan says reports that he had a dressing room fight with James Milner at Anfield were wide of the mark.

Klavan is nowhere near the top of the list of players synonymous with Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool.

But, to be fair to the Estonian defender, he did help build the foundations of the Champions League and Premier League-winning side during his two-year spell at Anfield.

The centre-back made 53 appearances in all competitions across the 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons for the Reds, but the arrival of Virgil van Dijk in January 2018 severely limited his game time.

The 2016/17 season - Klopp's first full campaign in the Anfield hot seat - was a mixed bag.

Although the Reds qualified for the following season's Champions League with a fourth-placed league finish, they exited the FA Cup in the fourth round and fell in the semi-finals of the League Cup.

Klavan clarifies 'fight' story

A couple of years ago, Klavan made headlines when he revealed that dressing room tensions boiled over in spectacular fashion.

Klavan was quoted on an Estonian podcast suggesting that Klopp and Liverpool vice-captain James Milner once nearly had a fight in the dressing room during his first season at Anfield

Klopp would later dismiss the suggestion as a ‘massive misunderstanding', and now Klavan has clarified his recollection of events.

The 37-year-old put the mix-up down to a poor translation, but admitted that sometimes things did get heated in the dressing room.

“I think it was translated from an Estonian podcast, and the translation wasn’t a very good one!” he said.

“I didn’t say it was a fight. What I told them was there were some moments when things get heated up.

“But that shows that everybody wants to win and everybody has those emotions to help the team and go forward. So it’s not like how it was suggested that there was a fight.

“When you have a lot of emotions and energy in one room, then things will happen. But it will always happen for a good cause and for the benefit of the team.”