‘Absolutely snapped’: Gary Neville claims he spotted Klopp losing his temper with Liverpool hero

Follow us on Google Discover

Liverpool again showed their dominance over Manchester United tonight, but Jurgen Klopp wouldn’t allow complacency to creep in with Virgil van Dijk.

The Reds were simply outstanding against their bitter rivals as Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah scored in the first half.

Given how little United offered in the first half, you could somewhat forgive Liverpool for taking their foot off the gas a little.

That’s what happened at the start of the second half with Van Dijk a little sloppy at the back.

A minor error was tidied up by teammate Andrew Robertson and nothing really came of it.

That wasn’t enough for Klopp though as the Liverpool boss gave Van Dijk both barrels on the touchline.

The moment was spotted by pundit Gary Neville, who pointed it out during commentary for Sky Sports (19/04, 9:08pm).

Neville suggested that Klopp was ‘snapping’ at Van Dijk as he attempted to make sure his star defender remained 100% focused.

Neville also noticed that Van Dijk simply gave a nod to the Liverpool bench, receiving Klopp’s message loud and clear.

“Jurgen Klopp is snapping at Virgil van Dijk. Absolutely snapped at him for that little bit of lax play over the far side,” said Neville. “It shows you the standard, no matter how good you are he’ll still have a go at you. The interesting thing was Van Dijk just acknowledged him and nodded,” he added.

Klopp will have wanted to start the second half strongly; don’t give United a glimmer of hope will have been the message to the Liverpool players.

Van Dijk’s moment didn’t lead to anything but Klopp had to try and stamp it out there and then.

Yet for the next 20 to 25 minutes, Liverpool remains sloppy and were a little fortunate that United didn’t take advantage of it.

No matter whether you’re the best centre back in the world, a new signing just starting your Liverpool career or a hot prospect, Klopp expects the same from all.

Van Dijk probably hasn’t had too many rollockings from Klopp in his time at Liverpool, but this was a clear reminder with Liverpool needing to be perfect in their chase of a quadruple.