Jurgen Klopp separates Pep Guardiola, Darwin Nunez: What happened after Man City-Liverpool draw

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp acted as the mediator between his Manchester City counterpart Pep Guardiola and his forward Darwin Nunez at full-time in Saturday’s 1-1 draw between the sides.

Guardiola and Nunez were involved in a seemingly spiky exchange of words at the final whistle of the match at the Etihad, in which Liverpool rescued a point after Trent Alexander-Arnold cancelled out Erling Haaland’s first-half opener.

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The exchange followed a relatively low-key clash in which there were few moments of controversy, aside from City defender Ruben Dias seeing his goal from close range disallowed following a foul on Alisson, who dropped the ball under pressure from Manuel Akanji after a Julian Alvarez corner.

As Nunez and Guardiola exchanged words after the final whistle, Liverpool boss Klopp stepped in and seemingly defused the situation.

Here is what both managers had to say about the incident, and the rest of the fallout from the clash between the two sides who started the weekend as the Premier League’s leading teams.

What actually happened?

Guardiola and Klopp had shared some back-slapping at the end of the game, before Nunez approached Guardiola, with the pair at first shaking hands.

But Nunez then appeared to point behind him to the field of play and Klopp turned back to shield the Uruguay international as Guardiola’s expression changed. The Spaniard looked bemused as he turned his palms upwards and Nunez waggled a finger.

Guardiola then walked towards Nunez and became more animated as Klopp’s assistant Pep Lijnders tried to hold him back.

Several of Liverpool’s staff joined Klopp in trying to push Nunez back towards his team-mates who were showing their appreciation for the travelling supporters.

Darwin Núñez and Pep Guardiola at full-time… 👀 pic.twitter.com/gN4RQcWuGu

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) November 25, 2023

What did Klopp say?

Klopp told German TV after the match: “There were some shouts (from City bench) after the final corner; some of our boys understood it and reacted.

“I didn’t understand much but I like them (Guardiola and Nunez) both a lot so I stepped in.”

Asked by Sky Sports about the incident, Klopp added: “I don’t think I’m the one to explain it because I was not involved, surprisingly!

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“I love them both. I tried to calm it down without understanding a word.”

What about Guardiola?

Speaking to reporters after the match, Guardiola played down the incident and insisted: “Nothing happened.”

Pressed further by a reporter, who reminded him Klopp had to intervene, the City boss responded: “Because he’s stronger than me!”

Asked if Alexander-Arnold’s late equaliser was the prompt, Guardiola said: “It’s not frustration for that. I’m really pleased.

“I’m incredibly pleased about the performance we played because we know how tough they are. I’m so proud of my team.”

Asked what he thought about his side’s disallowed goal, Guardiola was equally coy, saying: “I didn’t watch it”.

What else did the managers say about the draw?

Klopp insisted he was happy with his side securing a point in Saturday’s game, saying: “It is a really good moment. It’s a tough place to come. It’s no coincidence that they win so many home games.

“You have to be ready to suffer and you need more time to prepare properly for a game in these circumstances.

“I think if we played (better) we could have won. But we played okay. We caused them problems but our good moments didn’t feel that good to us. So we had to stretch ourselves and push ourselves and really give it a try. And we had to adapt slightly.”

Guardiola insisted that despite his side dropping two points at home for the first time this calendar year, he was pleased with the performance.

“It was an excellent performance,” the Spaniard said.

“It was really, really, really good. We always made the right decisions. Yes, we missed a bit of spark. But we conceded just two shots on target against Liverpool and that’s a big compliment to how we work.

“We know the quality Alexander-Arnold has and it was an exceptional goal.”

GO DEEPER

Manchester City 1 Liverpool 1: Attacking Alexander-Arnold, Haaland's 50, Alisson's kicking

(Photo: Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)

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