Rio bites back at Klopp after Liverpool boss aims ‘nobody interested’ dig at Neville brothers

Rio Ferdinand has defended the Neville brothers after Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp aimed a dig at his former Manchester United teammates.

Ferdinand took issue with Klopp’s quip after his side’s 2-0 win over Union Saint-Gilloise in the Europa League on Thursday night.

Ryan Gravenberch and Diogo Jota sealed a comfortable win for the Reds in a game made memorable due to summer signing Alexis Mac Allister going head-to-head with his brother, Kevin.

Speaking in his post-match press conference, Klopp said: “It’s the first time that two brothers played against each other in world football or whatever it felt like, it’s a really nice story.”

Reminded by a reporter of Gary and Phil Neville, who played against each other when the latter left United to join Everton, Klopp quipped: “Well nobody was interested in that obviously. Sorry, that was a penalty I had to take that!”

Ferdinand, who played alongside the Nevilles in an era of great success under Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford, hit back at the Liverpool boss on social media.

Quoting a post of Klopp’s comment, Ferdinand wrote: ‘Only 14 Premier League titles between the Neville households,’ alongside eyes and laughing face emojis.

In a week dominated by VAR talk after Liverpool’s defeat to Tottenham last weekend, with Klopp asking for a replay that’s never going to happen, the German boss is ready to “put things right” against Brighton, who have beaten the Reds twice already this year, in the Premier League and FA Cup.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of Sunday’s game, he said: “If we play like we did last year, then we will get a massive knock again, but I think we will play better. That’s the first step.

“I am really looking forward to it, and we have to put a few things right. We should not let it happen again. It can – because they are really good – but we will do a really big try to make sure it does not.”

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