James Milner thinks that the theatrics shown by Neymar and some of his Paris Saint-Germain team-mates meant Liverpool struggled to mount a comeback on Wednesday night.
The Reds lost 2-1 in the Champions League to PSG – which sees them needing to win on the final matchday against Napoli to qualify – despite a second-half penalty from Milner giving them a way back into the match.
Neymar‘s ‘play-acting’ and the referee’s willingness to entertain it riled Klopp and Milner admits it stopped their momentum.
“If you are surprised by that you are a bit foolish,” Milner said. “As a player you can’t just do anything about it can you?
“You just still have to press but when you do that it doesn’t make it easier when you are on the front foot and trying to win the ball back. It’s then in the referee’s hands to give fouls if he thinks it is a foul.
“I don’t think it was a terrible performance. We have played better than that obviously, but if you can’t win your home games in the Champions League then you don’t deserve to go through. I’m not concerned, we’ve played pretty well this season.”
