Coach storms out over handshake question

It was a wild contest that saw Antoine Griezmann sent off in the 52nd minute for a high foot into the face of Roberto Firmino at 2-all, before Mo Salah completed his brace in the 78th minute to claim the win.

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But as the full-time whistle blew, Atletico’s manager Diego Simeone ran straight for the changerooms rather than hanging around for the usually customary post-game handshake.

Klopp was somewhat perturbed by the apparent snub as Simeone almost bowled over an official who go in his way.

On BT Sport, the commentators said that Klopp “was annoyed by that, quite rightly so”.

Although it appeared bizarre for casual viewers, it’s not uncommon for Simeone to skip the post-match.

Soccer reporter Sam Leveridge said: “Simeone would dash down the tunnel without shaking hands with his best mate,” while Fox Sports reporter James Dodd tweeted: “Simeone runs down the tunnel after pretty much every game, win, lose or draw. He’s explained why he does it before, it’s not a story.”

But the story erupted when Klopp lost his cool at a reporter in a post-match interview.

But in the post match interview, Klopp said “I can imagine in Spain nobody likes that red card”, referring to the Griezmann send off, admitting it was “not intentional”.

The interviewer then segued into the non-handshake at the end of the game, asking why Klopp was “very angry at the end of the game”.

“Come on, I’m not such an idiot that you … a little bit of a question here – I wasn’t angry at all,” Klopp replied.

“I wasn’t angry. Have a look. If you want to make a story of that I can imagine. I want to shake his hand, he doesn’t want it. In that moment I can understand that he was running inside. He’s emotional, I’m emotional and you are not a nice person because you want to make a story of that.

“You said I was angry. When was I angry? I am now angry because of your question. Come on.”

Klopp then turned and walked away from the microphone.

BT also spoke to Klopp about the incident.

“The situation is clear: I want to shake his hand and he didn’t want to shake mine,” Klopp told BT Sport. “His reaction was for sure not right but mine wasn’t too cool as well.

“But we are both emotional so when I see him next time we will shake hands definitely, as if nothing had happened.

“He was obviously angry, not with me but with the game, and it’s nothing else.”

Simeone also had to deal with questions in his post-match press conference, explaining why he doesn’t like shaking hands after the match.

“I don’t always greet (the other manager) after the game because I don’t like it,” the Argentine said.

“It’s not healthy for either the winner or the loser. I think of it that way.

“But now, when I see him, I’ll greet him without a problem.”

Former Socceroos great turned commentator Craig Foster said it was “the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time”.

“He just hammered the guy,” Foster added.

“The guy was right to say ‘you were upset, he walked away without shaking your hand, that’s abnormal, so what do you think about that’?”

Salah became Liverpool’s top Champions League goalscorer having scored 31 in 48 games, usurping Steven Gerrard’s previous record of 30.

Even with 10 men, Atletico thought they might have snatched a draw late on as Luis Suarez, on off the bench, prepared to take a penalty against his former club with his first touch.

Instead, referee Daniel Siebert infuriated the home crowd by cancelling his decision after consulting the replay.

“When we were losing 2-0 they thought they could beat us by five or six,” Simeone said. “But we could have won it 3-2. It narrowly escaped us.”

Liverpool move five points clear at the top of the group, with Atletico seemingly left to scrap it out with Porto for second place. They have four points each.

— with AFP