Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce has hit back at Rafa Benitez in a war of words following Liverpool's recent victory over Rovers.
The Reds manager was caustic in his assessment of Rovers' performance after Liverpool struggled to a 2-1 win at Anfield last weekend.
But Allardyce, who has never seen eye to eye with Benitez since the Reds tactician came to England in 2004, believes the Spaniard personally criticised him to deflect attention away from his own team.
Allardyce told The Mail on Sunday: "Blackburn's performance was the best any of my teams have played there.
"Benitez knows his team played poorly and were lucky to get a win so he deflected any criticism by personally criticising me.
"That covered the true facts that we had better opportunities than them and came extremely close to beating what is supposed to be an outstanding Liverpool team.
"Being able to wind up a manager is satisfying, even if it doesn't quite work your way in terms of results."
He continued: "It just galls him that we make things difficult for him when he plays against my teams.
"There's no love lost between us.
"The truth is Liverpool are having to dig out results when they are not playing well.
"They didn't particularly earn the win last week but they dug it out.
"My reputation has been a perception for some time rather than a reality.
"It's a great shame for the Blackburn players because it's not their fault the manager is tagged by a so-called long-ball style.
"It's just not factual."
The Reds manager was caustic in his assessment of Rovers' performance after Liverpool struggled to a 2-1 win at Anfield last weekend.
But Allardyce, who has never seen eye to eye with Benitez since the Reds tactician came to England in 2004, believes the Spaniard personally criticised him to deflect attention away from his own team.
Allardyce told The Mail on Sunday: "Blackburn's performance was the best any of my teams have played there.
"Benitez knows his team played poorly and were lucky to get a win so he deflected any criticism by personally criticising me.
"That covered the true facts that we had better opportunities than them and came extremely close to beating what is supposed to be an outstanding Liverpool team.
"Being able to wind up a manager is satisfying, even if it doesn't quite work your way in terms of results."
He continued: "It just galls him that we make things difficult for him when he plays against my teams.
"There's no love lost between us.
"The truth is Liverpool are having to dig out results when they are not playing well.
"They didn't particularly earn the win last week but they dug it out.
"My reputation has been a perception for some time rather than a reality.
"It's a great shame for the Blackburn players because it's not their fault the manager is tagged by a so-called long-ball style.
"It's just not factual."
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