Keane delivers brutal response to Walcott saying he was afraid of Klopp

31 March 2024 , 14:11

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Roy Keane had a brutal response to Theo Walcott after comments he made about Jurgen Klopp (Image: Sky Sports)

Roy Keane aimed a brutal dig at Theo Walcott after the former Arsenal star admitted he was scared of Jurgen Klopp.

When discussing Klopp's pre-match ritual of standing on the halfway line and staring at the opposition, Walcott revealed the Liverpool boss once made eye contact with him and that he found it intimidating.

"I always used to remember as a player, you'd be warming up and in your routine and suddenly you'd just get eye contact with Jurgen Klopp," Walcott told Sky Sports. "It's like fire looking into your eyes, it's so intimidating.

"He caught me once so I'm sure he would've caught many players. I'm sure there's a reason behind it as well, but he definitely scared me."

Keane then chimed in with a devastating put-down, joking: "You would've been scared of the mascot though, wouldn't you?" Klopp has previously explained the reasons behind his pre-match ritual, insisting he does not do it to try and intimidate the opposition.

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Speaking to former Manchester United goalkeeper Ben Foster for Amazon Prime Video back in December, Klopp was asked if he was aware how much his actions can affect an opposition player.

"That's not the reason," Klopp replied. "I just want to see, I want to understand. Sometimes you see a player limping a little bit, you see a player doing this or that and I just try to understand what they are doing.

Klopp likes to watch opposition sides warm up before games (PA Wire/PA Images)

"It's not so interesting when they are doing pure physical stuff, but when they start passing I have a look. Only one time I used it to intimidate an opponent, it's not nice to say that, but it was against my old club when we played Dortmund.

"I knew it would be strange for them so I thought 'Come on, let's do it', but besides that if somebody said that I do that on purpose (to intimidate) it's not true. I just watch."

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Matthew Cooper