It’s easy to forget there were two teams playing at Anfield last night.But it was all about Liverpool as Jurgen Klopp’s side finally got their hands on the Premier League trophy.Whatever happened during the 90 minutes against Chelsea was pretty irrelevant.They had waited 30 years to become champions of England again and nothing was going to stop them from celebrating.They did show why they were champions, though, being Frank Lampard’s side 5-3 on the night.
It was a Chelsea side who only needed a point to qualify for next season’s Champions League.But they were behind after 23 minutes following Naby Keita’s powerful strike. Fifteen minutes later, it was 2-0.Mateo Kovacic was harshly penalised for a foul on Sadio Mane with replays showing the Croatian had won the ball cleanly.
Lampard was furious. He was seen arguing with Klopp and the Liverpool bench on the touchline as Trent Alexander-Arnold lined up a free-kick.
Perhaps the Chelsea boss knew exactly what was going to happen next.
Alexander-Arnold curled it beautifully over the ball and past Kepa Arrizabalaga. Liverpool assistant Pep Lijnders celebrated by running onto the pitch. Bet that went down well with Lampard…
And footage has emerged of the full 'fight' between Lampard and the Liverpool bench. If you listen close enough, you can really hear some effing and jeffing.
Here's what was said:
"How is that a foul? There's no foul there," Lampard asked the fourth official Lee Mason.
Lampard then turned his attention to Ljinders. "Sit down then," he shouted.
After Klopp defending his No.2 and asked Lampard to calm down, the Chelsea boss shot back: "If he's going off at me I'll say something, It's not a foul, I'm not asking you!"
"You can .... off and all,' Lampard then said to Klopp."You think you can give it the big one, .... off."
Before finally added: "Tell them to have respect, sit down."
There was no coming back from that moment and, despite a second half rally spurred on by Christian Pulisic, the Blues lost out in an eight-goal thriller.
After the match, Lampard was asked about his altercation with the Liverpool bench and he gave a rather spiky response.
"For me, it wasn't a foul from Kovacic, and there were a lot of things that weren't going our way. But I've not got a problem with Jurgen Klopp. The way he's managed this team has been fantastic.
Fair play to Liverpool Football Club, they've won the league, but also don't get too arrogant with it. That was my point, but it's done. In match play, you can get emotional and that was it.
After the match, Klopp was also asked about his clash with Lampard.
"I was angry during the game and my plan was not to be angry. I was really…I had a fight with Frank Lampard stuff like this," he admitted.
"We don’t plan this it’s just we are in the game and 5-3 is a perfect result to be honest."