'SALAH RIFT A NON-STORY. THERE'S NO PROBLEM' - JURGEN KLOPP

Jurgen Klopp insisted on Friday that there is no rift between him and Mohamed Salah after their touchline exchanges at West Ham last weekend.

In his press conference after the 2-2 draw, the Liverpool manager said everything had been sorted out, only for Salah to walk through the mixed zone saying: "There's going to be fire if I speak."

But almost a week on from that episode, Klopp said it was nothing particularly out of the ordinary.

"It is completely resolved. It is no problem. If we wouldn't know each other for that long I don't know how we would deal with it, but we know each other for that long and respect each other," Klopp said.

"I think we have the right to deal with these things completely independent of any expectations from the outside. It is a non-story. In general everyone is in the best possible place," he added. "We win the games, we score loads of goals, then the situation would have probably not been exactly like that because Mo would not have been on the bench in the first place. It all depends on each other."

The incident sparked further speculation about Salah's future, as he turns 32 in June and has just over one year left on his contract.

Klopp was speaking ahead of Sunday's home game against Tottenham Hotspur. With three games left, third-placed Liverpool lie five points behind leaders Arsenal, with champions Manchester City a point behind 'The Gunners' with a game in hand.

Klopp conceded that his side will probably end up in third place, but stressed the significance of qualification for next season's Champions League.

"(At the start of the season) Everybody knew how important it would be to qualify for the Champions League again," he said. "So we did. And it's super important for the future of the club and I'm really happy about that."

2024-05-03T14:30:15Z dg43tfdfdgfd