Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp seeing red over Manchester City’s Jeremy Doku high kick on Alexis Mac Allister

Jurgen Klopp said he will “never forget” Liverpool’s performance against Manchester City after the teams played out a thrilling 1-1 draw - but the German was furious that the Reds were denied a last-gasp penalty when Jeremy Doku clashed with Alexis Mac Allister.

City took the lead in a dominant first half through John Stones but Liverpool equalised not long after the break when Mac Allister converted a penalty.

Klopp hailed the attacking performance from thereafter as one of the best of his coaching career.

Both teams had chances to win the game but Klopp was left baffled when his team were not awarded another spot-kick in the last seconds when City’s Belgian winger Doku caught Mac Allister with a high boot in the penalty area.

“Would you have given a penalty in that situation,” Klopp asked UK Sky Sports reporter Patrick Davidson in a bizarre change of roles, who replied: “I’m not surprised VAR didn’t overturn it, because of the high bar with the off-field official not wanting to re-referee the match.”

Klopp hit back and said: “This situation on all positions on the pitch is 100 per cent a foul and it’s a yellow card. (Doku) hit the ball but he could only hit the ball because his foot was right there. If the ball is not there, he kills him!

“It’s as easy as that. You will find people - you employ Mike Dean, he works for Sky? Congratulations, that’s a great appointment by the way - he will find something. It’s a penalty for all football people on the planet.”

The manager later added: “Why would the guy in the (VAR) studio think that is not clear and obvious? What must you have for lunch if you think that is not clear and obvious? I’m really not angry, it’s just the situation. It’s fine. I’m so happy about the way we played today.

“The result is only one thing. And if we win today, what are we, four points in front of City? That is not a distance that you should fall asleep. And maybe two points ahead of Arsenal. The way they (both) play, they will not stop.

“For us it’s important after all the different ways we found, not always great performances, just highest intense fights to get the result, like against Nottingham Forest, that we can play like this as well. That’s the information we need, that we can create something like this today.

“Our injury situation is still awful. There are many players not available, it is crazy. If we were to play only the players who were not available today, that would have been a good team as one. But for once I am not moaning. I am just mentioning it.

“Today I saw the best 53 minutes we had against Manchester City. It was exceptional how we played, and important as well that we learned that about ourselves as well. If you play football like that against City, that is a statement... and I love that. You get a point for it, fine, keep going.

“I have wonderful memories of these kinds of things, I’ll never forget that now. Whoever plays in the future against Manchester City I’ll think, ‘Yeah, we did it a little bit better”. Forget the ref, I’m here to talk about football.

“We showed we’re ready to fight as long as the race goes and I love that the most. Arsenal is firing on all cylinders, City is City. So for us it is probably a little bit like, ‘How did we get through all that?’, that we are still there.”

After the enthralling game, Klopp joked he is looking forward to life on the other side when he can watch these matches from the stands. Asked if the game would tempt him to change his mind on leaving, he added: “No, no, obviously I didn’t explain well enough!

“I will miss these things of course but I miss my whole life. What kind of guy would I be if I say I don’t like that? Watching the game in the stands, I saw my Mrs after the game and she was buzzing, so it must be good to watch. That’s nice, maybe that’s my role from now on!”

Anfield played host to a typically full-blooded, high octane clash of titans - and City manager Pep Guardiola remembered why he said he’ll sleep easier when his long-time rival Klopp is no longer standing in his way.

Guardiola likened Liverpool to a “tsunami” as the defending champions had to dig deep to survive long periods of pressure in the second half.

“Oh my God, they come from everywhere,” Guardiola said after the draw kept second-place Liverpool one point ahead of City in third.

Arsenal ended the weekend top of the standings on goal difference, but the Londoners’ 2-1 win at Brentford on Saturday felt like a sub-plot in comparison to the latest - and possibly last clash - between Klopp and Guardiola.