The German felt that the question lacked the context around how many games each side had played in the build-up to the cup tie. Amad Diallo’s last-minute strike sealed a thrilling 4-3 victory in mid-March.
Klopp knew that his side would not have the energy to match United’s intensity in the game due to a packed schedule of matches in the preceding weeks. He says that is why he snapped at the reporter for asking about his side’s intensity – although his comment did not refer to the individual’s weight.
“There was this famous interview afterwards – I’d like to say I was out of the country thankfully [for the fall-out] but I wasn’t, I stayed in the country,” Klopp said before another trip to Man Utd.
“But I knew what would happen, actually. I was really calm after the game, I was not even angry, because I knew that, yes, we had to win it in this period. The first 15-20 minutes United were there, really aggressive and scored the goal. But then we took over and it was the best we played against them for a while for sure.
“In similar situations there was really good football without scoring. And then, after 90 minutes, I saw minute by minute that it was too much.
“It was the end of this intense spell, after all the games we played, and now extra time was the killer for us. That’s why I said after the game that it was the first time I saw us struggling.
