Jose vents anger as 'best team lost'

LONDON • Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho took aim at Jurgen Klopp after his team's 2-1 Premier League away defeat by Liverpool on Wednesday and even found time to reopen his old feud with Pep Guardiola.

After Son Heung-min cancelled out Mohamed Salah's opener in the first half, a 90th-minute header from Roberto Firmino sent the hosts three points clear of Spurs (25) at the top of the table.

It was hard to take for Mourinho, whose team were not only moments away from a hard-earned draw but could have won the game with Steven Bergwijn hitting the post and Harry Kane missing a great chance at Anfield.

Asked about what appeared to be a testy exchange with Klopp after the final whistle, Mourinho told Amazon Prime: "I told him the best team lost. He disagreed. That's his opinion.

"By the way, if I behaved the way on the touchline like he does, I have no chance to stay there - and I'm out after a minute."

When a reporter questioned whether he was referring to Klopp's over-exuberant reactions on the sidelines, Mourinho said: "That's animated? That's animated? Or do you want me to take the screen (from) the fourth official's hands?"

The Portuguese was referencing Manchester City manager Guardiola's response to the amount of added time shown at the end of his team's 1-1 draw with West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday by grabbing the fourth official's electronic board. Claiming there are double standards, he added: "For some reason, I am different. And that's that."

On Klopp, Mourinho later told the BBC: "Everything is fine between us. The referees let him behave the way he does. It's not my problem. I feel sad for it because I cannot do it but it's just the way it is."

Klopp appeared nonplussed when asked about his argument with Mourinho at full-time.

"It was not heated at all," he told the BBC. "He wasn't happy because he told me the better team lost - and I thought he was joking. But he wasn't. So that's it."

But while the hosts sealed a vital win, the German saw enough from the visitors to declare they were title challengers and not just chasing for a Champions League spot.

Spurs have not won the league since 1960-61 but Klopp said: "They will be top of the table until the end of the season because they are really good. But to play against them is a proper challenge and to play like us, is pretty special.

"Of course, Tottenham had chances, I know that they scored a goal and an unbelievably tight offside decision - we are really not lucky with these moments in the moment. They had other chances.

"But around these moments, we were completely in charge of the game, which is important, stay concentrated, protected our attacks sensationally well, counter-press was good, passing was good."

Spurs host another top-four rival in Leicester on Sunday and Mourinho urged his players to learn from this bitter loss so as to "kill matches of this dimension".

"I think the first thing that makes title contenders is to go to every match to win it, with that ambition," he said. "I promise you that the ambition is there... We had it, knew how to hurt and should do much more than we did."

REUTERS