Liverpool main man slams referee after UCL defeat against Atletico

Liverpool have not lost a single game in Premier League this season. They have dropped only two points in England, and are on their course to lift the title after three decades. 

However, things have not been very smooth for Jurgen Klopp's side in the UEFA Champions League.

They have suffered defeat at the hands of Napoli in their very first match of the campaign. On Tuesday (18 February), they lost the first leg of their round of 16 tie against Atletico Madrid. 

Saul Niguez was the only goal-scorer in the match. Jurgen Klopp's decision to substitute Sadio Mane at half-time was shocking to many, but the Senegalese was on a yellow card.

Klopp has revealed that the substitution was done so that Mane doesn't pick up a possible red card. "Obviously the plan was to get Sadio out of the game with a yellow card."

"I was afraid his opponent would go down even if Sadio takes a deep breath or whatever, so I didn’t want to have that situation. That’s why we took him off," he said, as per quotes in Team Talk.

He also slammed the referee for awarding a foul every time an Atletico Madrid player went to ground. "It was difficult for the referee to deal with the atmosphere but after 30 minutes three Atletico players were already on the ground without being injured."

"The ref just needs to feel that game a little bit more," Klopp said.

Klopp wants Anfield to do a Wanda Metropolitano

Throughout the came, Atletico Madrid's manager Diego Simeone asked the fans to cheer for his side. The fans at Wanda Metropolitano did just that, and played the role of 12th man to precise perfection.

Klopp acknowledged that by saying "The crowd wanted to help their team tonight. That makes it a very emotional game."

He also mentioned how he would want Anfield to produce something similar in three weeks' time, by saying "Emotions are important." 

"Tonight they were obviously completely on the side of Atletico but I am really looking forward to the second leg. We speak from time to time about the power of Anfield and the power a stadium can have, tonight you saw that."

Image Source: Team Talk