Premier League: Ahead Of Liverpool vs Man City, Klopp Hits Back At Guardiola For Calling Mane A 'Diver'

Sadio Mane (R) scored twice for Liverpool but the Super Cup was decided on penalties AFP / OZAN KOSE

Ahead of Liverpool FC and Manchester City's Premier League clash, the war of words between the managers has already commenced.

Liverpool's forward Sadio Mane was booked during their 2-1 win over Aston Villa on Saturday and Man City boss Pep Guardiola said, "Sometimes, he is diving."

The Reds' manager, Jurgen Klopp has come out in defense of Mane, who is Liverpool's leading goal-scorer so far this season.

"I can say Sadio is not a diver. There was a situation in the Aston Villa game where he got contact and went down. Maybe it was not a penalty but there was contact. It’s not as if he jumped over a leg and went down. All the other penalties were penalties."

"I am 100 percent sure that if something like this happened for Manchester City they would want to have a penalty because somebody kicked their player in the box. I am not too sure if I want to put oil on the fire. I am not interested in these kinds of things. And I promise not to mention tactical fouls," said Klopp, making it clear that he is not interested in getting involved in such controversial statements.

When asked about Guardiola’s claims, the Liverpool manager said it was "not too nice" of the former to make such comments.

"I couldn’t really believe it, to be honest. Do I like that he talks about one of my players? I am not sure if Pep spoke in that moment about Sadio or the team — both is not too nice, to be honest. I didn’t hear Sadio’s name or know how he could have known about any incident in the game so quickly after the game. Do I get asked as much about Man City? I don’t know. After our game, I really had no clue what the other Premier League results were. I didn’t think for one second about the other games," Klopp added.

With 11 matches into the Premier League's current season, Liverpool are on the top of the points table, six points clear of the reigning champions, Man City. The two rivals are set to face each other at Anfield on Nov. 10.

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