Jose Mourinho claims ‘best team lost’ and questions Jurgen Klopp’s behaviour as Tottenham fall to Liverpool
Spurs coach took a sly dig at old rival Pep Guardiola while he was at it
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Jose Mourinho felt his team were hard-done-by with a 90th-minute winner for Liverpool at Anfield and insists Tottenham Hotspur deserved the points.
A Roberto Firmino header sent the Reds top of the Premier League table above Spurs, courtesy of the 2-1 win, with the home side dominant throughout in terms of possession – but with Spurs missing two big chances to take the lead in the second half.
After the match, the unhappy Portuguese boss also suggested his opposite number, Jurgen Klopp, showed touchline behaviour that was improper and that if he, Mourinho, took the same approach he would be sanctioned.
READ MORE: Premier League fixtures and table - all matches by date and kick-off time
“I told Jurgen Klopp the best team lost. He disagreed but that’s his opinion,” Mourinho told Amazon Prime Video.
“By the way, if I behave the same way on the touchline he does, I have no chance to stay there and I’m out. That’s animated?
“You want him to take the [board] from the fourth official and see what happens to me [if I do it],” Mourinho added, referencing Pep Guardiola’s argument with an official this week.
“For some reason I’m different, and that’s sad.”
On the match itself, despite Liverpool having a mammoth 76 percent possession and 17 shots to eight, Mourinho pointed to Steven Bergwijn missing two second-half chances as evidence of why his team deserved the victory, while Harry Kane also sent a close-range header off-target.
“So close to winning. Not so close [to] a draw, so close to winning. But we missed the chances. We had the game under control, a draw would be a bad result in relation to the performance so you can imagine how we feel with the defeat. A very unfair result.”
Despite his assertions that Spurs got the better of the reigning champions, Mourinho continued to downplay his team’s chances of being involved in the Premier League title fight.
"My team [showed] me that I am right when I say from the beginning that we go every match to win. Tonight we played the champions with their stadium and we came here to win, had the best chances to win and the Bergwijn chances are great. The way the team was organised and surprised them tactically was brilliant.
“I expect the Spurs team in the next match to try and win. At the end of the season we’ll see where we are, no more than that.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments