Klopp apologises for throwing water bottle, backs keeper Mignolet

London Dec 23 (IANS) Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp has apologised for throwing a water bottle after his club was held to a 3-3 draw by Arsenal in an exciting English Premier League (EPL) game -- despite leading 2-0 at half time.

"I react sometimes in a bit of a strange way " Klopp was quoted as saying by espnfc after the rip-roaring encounter where the Gunners scored three goals in the span of five second-half minutes.

"I apologised to the people around me straight away."

Klopp slammed a water bottle into the ground when Roberto Firmino levelled.

For Arsenal Alexis Sanchez Granit Xhaka and Mesut Ozil scored in quick succession to turn the tables on their rivals after Philippe Coutinho and Mohamed Salah had earlier put Liverpool in control.

"I threw a bottle on the ground. Nothing serious happened but still it wasn t good. I was not happy in that moment but I really thought that was at least the minimum of what we deserved.

"We of course deserved to win we had more chances. But to lose three goals in five minutes it s an obvious problem. The result is not what we wanted. And the five minutes were very decisive tonight."

Asked about Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet s mistake for Xhaka s goal flapping at a shot he ought to have saved comfortably Klopp said: "Simon Mignolet saves these balls 99.9 percent of his full career but not tonight.

"Those five minutes can be enough to learn from. We have to learn from this. We should have scored another goal.

"If there were to be a winner tonight it should have been Liverpool."

--IANS
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