Jose Mourinho: 'Referee right not to send off Jurgen Klopp'

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has said that he is "happy with the decision" of referee Craig Pawson to not send off Liverpool counterpart Jurgen Klopp during Saturday's clash at Old Trafford.

Klopp was given a talking to by the official after leaving his technical area to berate centre-back Dejan Lovren in the latter stages of his side's 2-1 loss.

The 50-year-old, by the letter of the law, should have been sent to watch the remainder of the game from the stands, but Mourinho is glad that Pawson saw sense and let Klopp get away with it.

"Probably you are not expecting my answer - I'm happy with the decision," he told reporters. "Because he was not speaking against the referee. He was upset with a player and the same happened to me against Crystal Palace, where I was upset with my player and therefore [the officials] understood that too.

"I think [fourth official] Martin Atkinson, after so many years of this, made the right decision. I saw it. [Klopp] was very upset with his player and not at the referee.

"If you leave the technical area by a couple of metres - or in this case, 20 metres - but to speak to your own player and not to complain about the referee's decision, they made the right decision."

United opened up a five-point gap on their arch-rivals with the narrow victory in the race to finish as runners-up.