9 times Jurgen Klopp was the sorest loser in football: Personal insults, Des Kelly, God…
Jurgen Klopp is one of the most successful managers in Premier League history, something that can perhaps be explained by his status as the sorest loser in football.
Klopp has worked wonders at Liverpool since taking charge of the side in October 2015, leading the Reds to both domestic and continental success.
The German has also carved out a reputation as football’s jocular uncle, all smiles and quips when things are going swimmingly for the Reds.
But what about when the mask slips? We’ve identified nine occasions where Klopp hasn’t taken defeat well. At all…
‘You’re not in great shape’
Klopp stormed out of a post-match interview with Scandinavian TV following Liverpool’s dramatic FA Cup defeat against Manchester United in March 2024.
Speaking to Norwegian television channel VSport1, Klopp was asked by the interviewer: “Normally intensity is the name of your game, so how come it became so difficult in extra time?”
“Bit of a dumb question I feel…,” Klopp replied. “We have played, I don’t know how many games recently. I don’t know how many games United have exactly played.
“That’s sport. I’m really disappointed with that question, but you thought, obviously, it’s good.”
The reporter followed up by asking: “So too many games?” before Klopp snapped back: “Oh, come on. You are obviously not in great shape and I have no nerves for you.” Yikes.
Clattenburg
“Jurgen Klopp. Brilliant manager. Sour loser. I first came across him in April 2014. His Borussia Dortmund side lost 3-0 at Real Madrid in a Champions League quarter-final first leg,” Clattenburg wrote in his 2021 autobiography ‘Whistle Blower’.
“After the game, I came out of my dressing room and Real defender Marcelo and his wife asked for a picture. It was a private picture on their phone so I said yeah, no problem.
“Klopp walked past just as the photo was being taken. ‘Oh, so that’s why we got beat, is it?’ he said. He was not being humorous or friendly, he was being sarky.
“It annoyed me when managers could not be gracious in defeat. Klopp never took losing well. When he was winning he was happy, he was good fun. When things were not going his way, he got prickly.
Proper football
Liverpool’s incident-filled Champions League exit to Atletico Madrid in March 2020 saw Klopp unleash his inner aesthete after being Simeoned out of Europe.
“I don’t understand with the quality they have that they play this kind of football, I don’t understand to be honest,” he said with extra lashings of salt.
“When I see players like Koke, Saul, Llorente, they could play proper football, but they sat deep in their own half and have counter attacks.”
But many observers were unimpressed with the German’s excuses. “They’re not going to come out and play open football at Anfield when they’ve got a 1-0 lead, you’ve got to sit off a little bit,” Ray Parlour noted. “What do you expect them to do?”
TRY A QUIZ: Can you name every Liverpool player to have scored in the PL for Jurgen Klopp?
Hamstring twang
In a Premier League match for the ages in April 2023, Liverpool lost a three goal lead against Tottenham at Anfield before Diogo Jota’s last gasp winner.
Klopp celebrated Jota’s goal wildly and right in the face of the fourth official, before comically pulling his hamstring.
“What Jurgen Klopp did on Sunday, by running up to the fourth official and getting in his face, overstepped the mark,” Graeme Souness wrote in his Daily Mail column after the game.
“I have been a manager and I know there have been times when I was embarrassed by my actions.
“When you’re that aggressive towards an official, it is not a good look. It is not an argument you’re going to win and it will end up getting you in trouble, like Klopp has.”
A rare case of somebody proving to be a sore winner.
Useless comeback
After two dropped points at relegation-bound West Brom in April 2018, Klopp turned his ire to dryness of the Hawthorns pitch before dismissing the Baggies’ comeback as ‘useless’.
“It was a difficult game, especially after the pitch got drier and drier,” the former Mainz and Borussia Dortmund manager said.
“We had the ball constantly and it’s not so easy. It was quite difficult. I was not happy with the pitch. You never played football, obviously. It makes a massive difference.
“If you’re like West Brom, the ball constantly in the air, you don’t need a wet pitch. That’s how it is and we have to deal with that. They can do it next year, playing with a dry pitch in the Championship.”
Jeez. Put those claws away Jurgen.
The Lord Almighty
Liverpool were in a rut in the early months of 2021; an unprecedented injury crisis forcing Klopp to pick midfielders at the back and a string of defeats causing the Reds to slide from first to eighth.
After a 4-1 humbling by Manchester City, the German said: “I am convinced now that God is a Man City fan and that he will do everything to stop us. You can’t win against God.”
Quite. Although there’s nothing in the bible about our lord and saviour toying with the result of football matches for the bantz.
Television
Klopp came up with particularly imaginative excuse after exiting the FA Cup to Alan Pardew’s West Brom in January 2018.
“What I heard was that the actual extra time in the first half should have been ten minutes,” Klopp said after their 3-2 defeat at Anfield. “It was only four.”
“I heard that television said it’s not longer than four minutes. Of course that’s not possible, you can’t cut match time because there is something else to broadcast.
“I don’t know what was on afterwards, maybe the news or something. It was ten minutes and so you need to play ten minutes longer. You can’t say: ‘It’s now a little bit too long.’”
Perhaps Liverpool should’ve had enough to dispense of a side anchored by a 66-year-old Gareth Barry regardless.
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Des Kelly
Klopp was fuming at Liverpool being forced to play in the Champions League on a Wednesday night followed by an early Saturday Premier League encounter in November 2020 after his side dropped two points at Brighton.
After James Milner went off with a hamstring injury, BT Sport’s Des Kelly about the extent of the issue. Klopp sarcastically said: “Congratulations.”
“Not me personally,” Kelly replied.
“Well you work for them,” Klopp told Kelly. “Ask Chris Wilder how we can work on that. I don’t know how often I have to say it, but you pick the 12:30 kick offs.
“Between now and December there is one more Wednesday, Saturday. These are difficult times. I am just saying it how it is. Wednesday to Saturday 12:30 is really dangerous.”
The next time Liverpool played a Champions League game on the Wednesday before the early kick-off on the Saturday, they beat Crystal Palace 7-0. We think Jurgen was engaging in some world-class straw clutching.
Salty
After his side had been beaten 3-2 at West Ham in November 2021, one of only two league defeats they’d suffer all season, Klopp bought an industrial-sized vat of salt to his post-match interview.
“The first goal is a foul on the goalie,” he told Sky Sports.
“The arm goes against Alisson’s arm so how can he catch the ball when someone pulls his arm away. It makes no sense. It’s the typical excuse that VAR says it’s not clear and obvious but then what do you need?
“People will say I’m looking for excuses, I’m not. I accept we’re not too good to lose football games. Today we lost it, that’s not nice but I accept it. But when we speak about situations in a game you just need normal decisions from a referee. He didn’t do that.
“Cresswell? For me it’s a reckless challenge. Even though he touches the ball, you can’t go in like that as anything can happen. You can say he touched the ball but you have to control your body.
“Those two situations were influential in the game but in the end West Ham fought for the three points. They are not responsible for the decisions the VAR made.”
While he was always going to be aggrieved with the calls made, Klopp also had a dig at David Moyes’ side when he said, “West Ham played really good stuff this season but today it was like the old West Ham with set-pieces.”
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