Jurgen Klopp isn't one to hold grudges – at least, not openly.

So when the former Liverpool boss previously admitted to a longstanding dislike of James Maddison, it raised a few eyebrows.

Maddison was at fault – at least, in Klopp's eyes – for Vincent Kompany's thunderous, game-clinching strike against Leicester City on the penultimate weekend of the 2018/19 season.



At the time, Liverpool were breathing down Manchester City's neck, poised to end their 29-year wait for a Premier League title – if only Pep Guardiola's side had slipped up.

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But thanks in part to Maddison, who failed to close Kompany down and block his 30-yard blast, they never did.

"I remember exactly how I was lying on the sofa watching and thinking 'Maddison block him, close him down'," Klopp told Redmen TV.

"The moment when Vincent Kompany touched the ball there, I am really happy I didn't get a stroke in that moment as that's how it must feel," he added, before joking: "Since then, I don't like Maddison."

Guardiola's City were riding a 12-match winning streak in the league, but as Brendan Rodgers' Leicester held firm under relentless pressure, a 0-0 draw looked inevitable.

They would make amends the following season, storming to the title with an 18-point gap over City, but even that triumph did little to soften Klopp's lingering frustration with Maddison.

"It's just a personal thing," Klopp admitted(

Klopp felt that Maddison (third from left) should have closed Kompany (on the ball) down and blocked his title-clinching shot.
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