Mark Clattenburg claims "strange bloke" Jurgen Klopp tried to intimidate him

Ex- Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg has dubbed Jurgen Klopp a "strange bloke" and claimed the German tried to intimidate him before a big game.

Klopp is often perceived as a loveable character who is one of the more upbeat Premier League bosses, but Clattenburg has alleged that there is a different side to the man in the Liverpool hot-seat that many who do not have behind-the-scenes access do not see.

Given Klopp arrived in Merseyside in 2014, Clattenburg and the Liverpool boss shared three years in the Premier League together before the referee upped sticks to Saudi Arabia, replacing fellow former Prem official Howard Webb as the country's Head of Refereeing.

In an extract from Clattenburg's book Whistle Blower published in the Daily Mail, the referee discussed his first-ever encounter with the former Borussia Dortmund boss, which came in the form of a Champions League quarter-final first leg between the Bundesliga outfit and Spanish giants Real Madrid.

Mark Clattenburg's first encounter with Jurgen Klopp came in a Champions League game in 2014 ( Image:

Bongarts/Getty Images)

Klopp's Dortmund side would go on to lose the game 3-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu, but it was an incident that occurred in the corridors of Spain's most famous stadium after the game that left Clattenburg with a poor first impression of the manager.

"After the game, I came out of my dressing room and Real defender Marcelo and his wife asked for a picture. It was a private picture on their phone so I said yeah, no problem", Clattenburg explains.

Klopp walked past just as the photo was being taken. "Oh, so that's why we got beat, is it?" he said. He was not being humorous or friendly, he was being sarky.

"You're lucky you only got beat 3-0,' I said. The fact we were in Madrid probably gave me a bit of bravado to answer back. It annoyed me when managers could not be gracious in defeat."

The exchange left an impression on Clattenburg, who at the time was unaware that the just months later Klopp would arrive on these shores to take charge of Liverpool.

Few managers that operate at the most elite level take losing well, but according to Clattenburg, Klopp was a particularly "sour loser".

Is Clattenburg wrong to call Klopp a "strange bloke"? Comment below.

"Klopp never took losing well. When he was winning he was happy, he was good fun. When things were not going his way, he got prickly."

"My final game with Klopp was in January 2017 against Chelsea at Anfield. Managers rarely came into my dressing room for the exchange of team-sheets an hour before kick-off.

"On this occasion, Klopp came in with Jordan Henderson. It was bizarre, he stood and stared at me for about 30 seconds. I just stared back at him. I could see Jordan was a bit like, 'What the hell's going on?' Did Klopp think I was stupid?

"I was not going to be bullied by him. He left and all I thought was: 'What a strange bloke.'"