The Liverpool pair clashed at the London Stadium (Pictures: Shutterstock / beIN SPORTS)
Jurgen Klopp’s touchline bust-up with Mohamed Salah appears to have been caused by the Liverpool winger accidentally snubbing his manager’s handshake, a new camera angle has revealed.
The Egyptian was benched for Saturday’s 2-2 draw away at West Ham, with Klopp preferring a front three of Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo and Harvey Elliott.
He was about to be introduced alongside Darwin Nunez and Joe Gomez with around 15 minutes of the match remaining, with Liverpool ahead at the time.
But before the trio could be brought on, Michail Antonio headed West Ham level and footage then emerged showing a heated exchange between Salah and Klopp as they waited for the substitutions to take place.
The 31-year-old appeared to be unhappy with a comment made by his manager, throwing his arms up in the air, and even had to be pushed away by Nunez at one point as he yelled at Klopp.
It was unclear what prompted the argument at the time, but a new camera angle from the stands showing the exchange in full has shed more light on the incident.
After being checked over by the fourth official, Salah headed towards the touchline in preparation for entering the fray but seemed to, rather inadvertently, miss the fact that his manager had offered out his hand for a handshake.
Another angle pic.twitter.com/EE6IvxFOIU
— عار٠عبداÙعزÙز (@Arif_AT8) April 27, 2024
As Salah adjusted his socks, Klopp walked over and fist-bumped him but then seemed to motion about the handshake snub, with Salah seeming to argue back that he had not seen his manager.
The two bickered, which was caught by the original footage, and Klopp then shook hands and gave hearty hugs to both Nunez and Gomez – showing far more warmth than he did with Salah.
As play continued, and West Ham pressed forward, Klopp then said something else to Salah which triggered the 31-year-old and prompted his team-mates to intervene and push him away.
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Klopp declined to go into any details over what caused the touchline bust-up afterwards, though felt a line had been drawn under the incident after speaking to Salah in the dressing room.
‘We spoke already in the dressing room and for me it’s done for me. That’s all and that is it,’ explained the German, who is leaving Liverpool at the end of the season.
Asked if Salah was okay with the situation, Klopp added: ‘That was my impression, yes.’
However, the Egyptian does not appear to have moved on just yet and made a pointed comment to journalists as he left the London Stadium to board the team bus, refusing to give an interview but saying: ‘There’s going to be fire today if I speak.’
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