Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has revealed his touchline row with Niko Kovac happened because the Bayern Munich boss didn’t shake his hand immediately after the 0-0 draw on Tuesday night.
The Reds played out a stalemate with the Bundesliga champions at Anfield in the first leg of their last-16 tie in the Champions League.
And the two managers appeared to clash after the full-time whistle, with Klopp seemingly angry with his opposite number as they shook hands.
Speaking after the incident, the German explained that Kovac left him waiting for a handshake while he high-fived everyone on the Bayern bench.
Klopp said: “That was a pure misunderstanding.
“I wanted to shake his hand immediately [after the game]. But Niko first high-fived all Bavaria — not Bayern Munich — all Bavaria.
“Then I said to him, when he came back, ‘hey, maybe next time turn around to me for a second; then we’ll do that and I can go see my people. Because I was standing there a bit like a dope’.”
According to Klopp, the Bayern manager wanted to congratulate Franck Ribery, who recently became a father, but the Liverpool boss dismissed the excuse as a poor one.
“He told me he wanted to talk with Ribery, because he became a father,” Klopp added.
“But it was already for the fifth time — that’s not so exciting anymore then.”
Meanwhile, Kovac insisted the frosty exchange was simply down to differing cultures and apologised to Klopp for making him wait.
The Bayern boss said: “Everything was ok. It’s customary in England to shake hands after the final whistle.
“In this case, I first went to my bench and not to him. He [Klopp] isn’t familiar with that in England.
“I apologized for it; no offence was intended, after all. We shook hands afterwards.”