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Antonio ‘reveals what Klopp told Salah’ in furious touchline spat vs West Ham

01 May 2024 , 20:31
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Antonio revealed what he thought of the incident
Antonio revealed what he thought of the incident

WEST HAM star Michail Antonio has had his say on what words were exchanged between Jurgen Klopp and Mohamed Salah during their heated argument last weekend.

Klopp, 56, and Salah, 31, become engaged in a tetchy touchline row as the Liverpool ace was substituted on against West Ham, with Darwin Nunez having to separate them.

Jurgen Klopp and Mohamed Salah's argument was a flashpoint for Liverpool against West Ham eiqtiddtiqqzprw
Jurgen Klopp and Mohamed Salah's argument was a flashpoint for Liverpool against West HamCredit: Alamy
Michail Antonio has revealed what team-mates heard during the exchange
Michail Antonio has revealed what team-mates heard during the exchangeCredit: Footballers football podcast

SunSport reported earlier this week that the bust-up had been caused by a handshake snub by Salah.

A source explained: "This has happened occasionally with Jurgen and other players.

"He is very big on interaction with his subs before they go on and felt it didn't happen at first with Mo.

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"Mo was obviously annoyed at being left out of the team and wasn't in the best of moods while Jurgen wasn't happy with his behaviour."

And now Hammers ace Antonio, who scored his sixth goal of the season against the Reds to help earn a 2-2 draw, has added more detail to the interaction.

Speaking on the Footballer's Football Podcast, the 34-year-old said: "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.

"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. 

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"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."

Klopp, who announced he would be leaving Liverpool at the end of the season, played down the rift after the game, saying: "We spoke about it in the dressing room, but it’s done for me. That’s it.”

However, Salah stoked the flames with a cryptic answer of: "There's going to be fire today if I speak," when in the mixed zone.

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Regardless, it is an event Antonio believes is simply part-and-parcel of the beautiful game when tensions are high.

He added: "It's one of those things because they (Liverpool) are not performing it's going to be amplified.

"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."

The draw effectively destroyed any lingering hope Liverpool had of landing their second Premier League title under Klopp.

After the weekends action, which saw Arsenal and Manchester City both win, the Reds are five points behind the Gunners at the top of the table.

Defending champions Man City are one point behind Arsenal with a game in hand.

Tony Robertson

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