Jurgen Klopp insists Liverpool were unlucky not to take at least a point from Manchester United

Liverpool pushed United all the way for an equaliser but the hosts held on

Klopp felt his side should have come away with something (Getty)

Jürgen Klopp was left to bemoan his side's bad luck following defeat at Manchester United on Saturday, as the Liverpool manager claimed his side deserved to leave Old Trafford with at least a point.

Klopp's fearsome attack of Sadio Mané, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah was effectively shut down by Jose Mourinho's United, who stormed into a two-goal lead inside the opening half-hour thanks to a brace from Marcus Rashford.

Liverpool dominated possession for the remainder of the match but struggled to create many clear-cut opportunities and only halved the deficit through an Eric Bailly own goal before ultimately losing 2-1.

Klopp felt particularly aggrieved by Craig Pawson’s decision not to award a penalty against Marouane Fellaini after the United substitute brought Mané down inside the area during the second half.

The Liverpool manager also questioned whether another referee would have penalised Romelu Lukaku in the build-up to United’s second goal.

Having beaten Dejan Lovren in an aerial challenge to set up United’s opener, the Belgian striker raised his arms when contesting another long David de Gea kick with Lovren before the second goal.

Lukaku beat Lovren again, appearing to win the ball fairly, and Pawson saw nothing wrong with the challenge.

When asked whether there were positives to take from a largely disappointing day, Klopp said: “Of course. We lost 2-1 but everybody could see we are strong... 2-0 down, that's really rare that you can turn a game against Manchester United - 2-0 down after 20 minutes or so - but we were close and actually we should have done it.

“Again, you need a little bit of luck. They had luck. It was a deflected ball, the ball came down, maybe the second challenge I'm not sure, there are refs who would whistle it. The arm was high from Lukaku, there are refs that whistle it. Would I whistle it? Not sure, but sometimes it's like this.”

Klopp added: “1-0 down changed the world for us, 2-0 feels really bad so early and that you can immediately switch off, of course we are not that far in our development. But the reaction was as good as you can say after you still lost.

“I think we would've deserved a draw, that's fact, but we don't have it so it's not important.”

Liverpool's last defeat to a 'top six' rival came against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley in October. Klopp’s players responded well to that 4-1 reverse, however, and spent the next four months unbeaten in the league.

Klopp hopes that after this latest defeat, Liverpool’s fourth of the season so far, his players will respond in a similar fashion.

“That would be absolutely my plan, to keep the gap wider between defeats,” he said. “But actually if you prepare a game like this today, you don't think much about the league table. That's ovious, the table, but it's Manchester United so we came here to do something.

“In the end, you can lose a game, it's 2-1 and it's pretty much the closest result you can get. You scored once, that's OK, but it's not OK, that's how it feels.

“We are really disappointed about this. In the reaction there was a lot of good things but that's not to mention really. We lost and we don't think we should lose here.”