Alexis Mac Allister has revealed why he was ‘laughing’ at the end of Liverpool’s recent 1-1 draw away to Manchester City.
Immediately after the full-time whistle, Pep Guardiola and Darwin Nunez were seen arguing by the touchline, with Jurgen Klopp restraining the Uruguay striker in an attempt to defuse the situation, which petered out quickly.
The 24-year-old Argentina midfielder was speaking to Clank! when he outlined what was said between the pair to instigate the flashpoint, stating that it was ‘nothing serious’ and he actually found it ‘funny’.
Mac Allister said: “I imagine Jurgen didn’t understand anything (which was said) after the game. He asked me what I was saying to him, but it was nothing. It was something very minimal.
“As Jurgen said, they are two very emotional people, both Pep and Darwin, and it was nothing. Some comment that Pep made, Darwin responded to it, but it wasn’t anything out of this world.
“That’s why I was laughing too. If I see how serious it is, obviously I wouldn’t laugh in that way, but nothing made me laugh a little like how Darwin got angry so quickly. Apart from that, at the beginning, Pep thought he was doing everything like a joke, and of course Darwin was with him. It had transformed his face a little then.”
“It was kind of a little funny, the whole situation, but those are things that stay there. I think they both respect each other a lot, and nothing was wrong at that moment.”
Mac Allister continued: “I don’t know if it was a corner or a cross that [Erling] Haaland headed and the ball went past the goal next to the post. Pep turned around and started saying how lucky we are or something like that.
“Then it goes to the last bit of play, the ball is crossed into the middle and Lucho Diaz wants to head it and they save it. So then Darwin tells him [Guardiola], ‘ah, now you are the ones who are lucky’. From there, everything went to s**t, but it was very calm. Nothing serious.”
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Even before Mac Allister’s revelation, the incident between Nunez and Guardiola didn’t seem like anything major, with the situation cooling quickly and the Man City boss downplaying it when addressing the media afterwards.
That the Liverpool midfielder – who, as a Spanish speaker, would’ve understood what was said between the pair – found it all rather amusing underlines that it was the definition of a storm in a teacup.
Some fans may have been fearing that the Uruguayan’s temper would spill over just as it did when he was sent off for headbutting Joachim Andersen during the 1-1 draw against Crystal Palace last season, but thankfully the flashpoint at the Etihad Stadium didn’t see a repeat of that indiscretion.
It was all nothing more than the type of fleeting argument you’d regularly see during matches, and hardly the kind of episode which’d instigate a long-running feud between Nunez and Guardiola.
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