Jurgen Klopp has hit back at accusations that Mohamed Salah dived to win a penalty against West Ham United, insisting the Liverpool forward even has the marks to prove he was fouled.
With the Reds trailing 1-0 approaching half-time at Anfield on Saturday, Salah went down under a challenge from Arthur Masuaku inside the box.
Referee Kevin Friend did not hesitate to award a spot-kick and his view of the incident was backed up by the VAR and replays appearing to showing a clumsy Masuaku kick.
However, Salah's reaction to being clipped has since been heavily scrutinised by a number of pundits, with some going as far as to suggest that Egyptian dived.
Klopp, though, is baffled by suggestions that his player went down too easily.
Liverpool: Squad, FC Ratings, Matches, Formations
2020/21 Champions League: Groups, Matches, Team Stats, Player Stats
“I don’t know what people need. What can I say? It was a foul, pretty much for everybody who saw the situation," he said.
“Believe it or not, yesterday morning I spoke to Mo about how he feels and he has exactly three proper knocks, and one of them is from the penalty situation.
“There’s a knock, you go down or not, sometimes the ref whistles.
“We don’t talk for long about penalties we don’t get, but now three days after the game we talk about it, and there was clear contact.
“What can I say? No, I don’t understand the criticism.”
Mohamed Salah 
Liverpool 
West Ham 
