Jurgen Klopp has defended Liverpool star Sadio Mane after he was accused of diving by Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola.
Mane was booked for simulation in Liverpool's 2-1 win at Aston Villa on Saturday, in which he scored a stoppage-time winner.
The Senegalese has won penalties after being fouled in the Reds' recent home victories over Leicester and Tottenham , and City boss Guardiola took a swipe at the former Southampton man following his side's 2-1 win over the Saints on Saturday.
Responding to his Mane's late winner, Guardiola said: "It's happened a lot for Liverpool in the last years [scoring late on]. It's because he's a special talent.
"Sometimes he's diving, sometimes he has this talent to score incredible goals in the last minute. He's a talent.
"If it's one time, two times, 'we were lucky, we were lucky', but it happened in the last two seasons many, many times – they have a special character to do that."
City head to Anfield on Sunday in a battle of the Premier League's top two, but before that the pair have Champions League duties to attend to.
Guardiola's side go to the San Siro to face Serie A outfit Atalanta, while Liverpool host Belgian side Genk at Anfield on Tuesday.
Speaking at his press conference before that Genk clash, Klopp launched a defence of his forward.
“Sadio is not a diver," he said. "Yes there was a situation in the Aston Villa game where he felt contact and went down.
“Maybe it was not a penalty but there was contact.
“It's not like he jumped over a leg or something. All the other penalties were penalties because he was there.
“If something like that had happened for Manchester City I'm sure they would have wanted a penalty too.”
