Jurgen Klopp questions Manchester United penalty record after Liverpool denied twice in Southampton loss

The German was left frustrated twice after two strong appeals for a penalty in the 1-0 loss at St Mary’s

Sadio Mane is challenged by Kyle Walker-Peters (Getty)

Jurgen Klopp has questioned Liverpool’s penalty record and claimed Manchester United "had more penalties in two years than I had in five-and-a-half years".

The Reds came unstuck at Southampton thanks to Danny Ings’ sublime goal, leading to three games without a defeat and just one goal scored in that run over the festive period for the champions.

The German boss was especially upset at two instances where he believed the Reds deserved a penalty: Kyle Walker-Peters’ challenge on Sadio Mane and Jack Stephens’ handball after blocking a shot from Gini  Wijnaldum.

Klopp’s claim refers to United being awarded 32 penalties in the Premier League since the start of the 2018/19 season, while the Reds have been awarded 30 penalties since the 2015/16 season, when Klopp arrived on Merseyside.

READ MORE: Jurgen Klopp acknowledges Liverpool are in a ‘rusty moment’ after defeat to Southampton

The Reds remain top on goal difference, but Klopp has started the mind games with their rivals ahead of United’s trip to Anfield next weekend.  

"If anybody ever again will say Sadio Mane is a 'diver', it's the biggest joke in the world," Klopp told Sky Sports. "This boy tries to stay on his feet with all he has. In two situations… other teams will get a penalty for it, let me say it like this. Then the handball, I don't know who will explain that to me."

“We had a really good view of it [the Mane incident], and it looked like a clear penalty," added in his press conference after the game. “I turned around to the fourth official and asked if it was going to be checked, he said it already had been and was not a penalty. That's 100 per cent true, and now someone wants to tell me how quick they had it in all these different angles.

“Last year, there was a penalty against Leicester when people said Sadio Mane goes down too easily - if he goes down easily, we would have had a penalty in this game and the last game, a stonewall penalty, but what Andre Marriner did with Sadio Mane I'm not sure if that's okay.

“The boy tried everything, had a few great challenges with Walker-Peters, but there were a lot of situations which should have been free-kicks. The last one, when he goes down, you see that back and in the box he hits him in the end with his left foot, that's a penalty.

“We cannot change. I hear now that Manchester United had more penalties in two years than I had in five-and-a-half years. I've no idea if that's my fault, or how that can happen.

“But it's no excuse for the performance. We cannot change it, we have to respect the decisions. But we can change our performance. That's our focus now.”