On how he felt about Ekitike’s second yellow card and sending-off…
No, I would prefer to start with something positive, which is not positive but the tribute we gave Matt Beard was, I think, of Liverpool standards. How the fans always do this is something that makes me proud to represent this club, how we always find a way to be so respectful for people that have done so much for our club.
Then we go immediately because of your question to the last minutes of the game, where Hugo got a second yellow card. What were your two words? That was ‘needless’, yes. And it was ‘stupid’. Yeah, it was. The first one was already needless and to a certain extent stupid, because you have to control your emotions. I know how hard it is if you play Premier League or every league in the world, if you are a No.9 then the defender can almost do everything he wants, and then when you shirt-pull a little bit or you push him a little bit then you get a free-kick against you. But it’s always the best to control your emotions, and if you cannot control your emotions do it in a way that doesn’t lead to a yellow card. I think I said when I got my red card against Everton [last season], that is always stupid because you can show your emotions but if it leads to a yellow or a red card then it’s stupid. And that’s what happened in the first yellow.
I told him as well and I said it to numerous media already, if you score in a Champions League final in the 87th minute after outplaying three players and hitting it in the top corner, I can maybe understand that you’re like, ‘This is all about me, what did I do?’ But I am old fashioned, I’m 47 and old maybe. I haven’t played at this level but I did score a few goals and if I would have scored a goal like this, I would have turned around and walked up to, in this situation, Federico Chiesa and said, ‘This goal is all about you, this is not about me.’ So, yeah, needless, not smart. You call it stupid. I call it stupid, by the way, as well.
On Chiesa’s overall display…
I think what you want to see. I can accept completely that a team that plays for the first time together, players that haven’t played for a long time, that they don’t play as a team perfectly. But what I always want to see is players that try and work hard. So I said at half-time, for me it is completely not a coincidence that Federico picked the ball and assisted on the first [goal] because he was the one, in my opinion, that was most involved in the game, tried the most, worked the hardest. And then it wasn’t a coincidence again that he was the man that made a deep run, great ball by Robbo [Andy Robertson], by the way – who also has won so much at this club and also understands how to play this game: not underestimate it, just always be ready to play. That’s also the way to get yourself either back in the team or get as much playing minutes as you want. That’s why I was happy with a few individual performances but far from happy with a few other individual performances.
On if he would elaborate on who he was unhappy with…
No. But I think these players who I mean, I think they know already.