You can't act like this, Klopp admits after nearly coming to blows with Arteta

Arteta said such incidents were part of the blood-and-thunder of football

An ugly first-half altercation between Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp and his Arsenal counterpart Mikel Arteta fired up the home fans and players at Anfield on Saturday before a four-goal salvo sent the Londoners packing.

After a quiet first half an hour, Liverpool striker Sadio Mane’s aerial challenge on Arsenal defender Takehiro Tomiyasu saw the away side’s normally controlled Spanish manager rise in outrage.

That incensed the often passionate Klopp, who strode angrily towards Arteta as the fourth official came between them.

Both men raised their hands and shouted at each other as assistants restrained them. They even carried on chuntering in each other’s direction after referee Michael Oliver brandished yellow cards to both men.

The incident raised the noise levels at a packed Anfield and appeared to galvanise Liverpool, who stepped up their intensity levels and went on to score four goals with no reply in a sixth successive home Premier League defeat of Arsenal.

Klopp said he was incensed by the Arsenal bench’s targeting of Mane and compared it to the treatment of his striker by Atletico Madrid in this month’s Champions League game.

“It was absolutely no foul from Sadio. But the Arsenal bench was up like it was nearly a red card or whatever,” the German said.

“It was nothing, he didn’t even touch him. It was just two players going in the air, and then they (Arsenal’s bench) jump (up), and that was not ok, and that’s what I said.

“I’m really sick of that, everyone tries to go for Sadio in these moments ... It’s just not right.”

Klopp acknowledged, however, that he let his passions get the better of him.

“The ref did really well in that situation and I deserved the yellow card, it’s no problem at all,” he said.

“You can’t act like this, it just happened in the moment. I am very emotional on the sideline, but it doesn’t happen much any more that I have arguments on the sideline.”

Arteta would not be drawn afterwards, saying such incidents were part of the blood-and-thunder of football.