Atletico Madrid's players are reportedly furious with Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp for his post-match comments after their 1-0 win over the defending champions.
The Reds lost 1-0 to the Rojiblancos thanks to an early goal by Saul Niguez, while themselves failing to have a shot on target over the 90 minutes.
Klopp focussed in his post-match comments on Atletico's defensive tactics, while also over-celebrating the result.
"They got a result, the stadium wasn't here to see sensational football, they got the result and so they are happy," he said, as quoted by ESPN.
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"There are a lot of happy faces tonight from Atletico.
"It's only 1-0, we're not 5-0 down. We don't think it will be easy at our ground. For all Atletico fans who can get a ticket for the game, welcome to Anfield."
He also insisted that he took Sadio Mane off at half-time because he feared an "opponent would go down if Sadio only took a deep breath".
Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk echoed his coach's sentiment about Atletico's tactics, saying: "That is the way they play, that's Spanish football."
All of these remarks reportedly upset the players of the home side, who were surprised by the complaints and said "it is important to be gracious in defeat as well as victory", sources have told ESPN.
Both teams will meet for the return leg at Anfield on 11 March, when Liverpool need to overturn the 1-0 defeat in order to keep their hopes of defending the title alive.
