Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi believes the Seagulls were "better than Liverpool" in the teams' 2-2 draw at the Amex in the Premier League on Sunday.
The Italian picked up a yellow card in the second half amid protests for what he thought should have been a penalty when Kaoru Mitoma's shot bounced up and hit Virgil van Dijk on the arm.
Lewis Dunk's goal after 79 minutes saw the Seagulls earn a point and Joao Pedro missed a glorious chance to win it in the closing stages. De Zerbi thinks such an outcome would have been fair.
"It was a very close game," the Italian said after the match. "I think we played maybe better than Liverpool. I'm sorry to say it like this because I have a big respect for Jurgen [Klopp] but I think we played better.
"At the end of the first half we conceded two very stupid goals and I'm sorry for it because we are conceding too many goals in this period but it can happen because we are working a lot in defensive spaces we are working a lot in the details in that situation but in football there are some periods when you conceded goals without a great chance.
"In the second half, we played better. We could concede the third one but we could score with [Simon] Adingra, Joao Pedro and other channels. I'm pleased with the result."
And asked about the penalty incident, De Zerbi said: "I think it was a clear penalty."
"We can speak until tomorrow about the referee but we can change nothing so I prefer to have another question."
Brighton are now sixth in the table with eight games played, one point behind fourth-placed Liverpool and just four adrift of leaders Tottenham and Arsenal.
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