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Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers was caught up in a frightening broad daylight bust-up when a screaming youth tried to smash up the door of a female pal’s house.

The man, armed with a cricket bat, pulled up in a car outside honking the horn and hurling abuse.

When the stunned Premier League manager told him to leave, the man shouted for him to come out into the street.

He then ran back to his car and pulled out the cricket bat which he used to batter the front door before racing off in his car.

Shocked neighbours who witnessed the incident on the up-market street called police.

But by the time three squad cars arrived the man had fled.

Today Rodgers will try to guide Liverpool to victory against Norwich City and a big step closer to their first league title for 24 years.

Yesterday a source said: "Thankfully Brendan has put this behind him and focused on football."

A neighbour told how the Liverpool boss arrived at the house in Southport at around 3.15pm on Monday and parked nearby.

The drama unfolded about an hour later when a man pulled up outside the home of Rodgers' friend Charlotte Hind, 31, who used to be a travel coordinator for the club.

They became close after he split from his wife Susan.

Witnesses claimed Rodgers appeared at an upstairs window and asked the man to go away, at which point the man, in his early 20s, went back to his car and returned with the cricket bat.

One neighbour said: "He pulled up outside and he was blowing on the horn.

"Then he got out, went to the boot and got a cricket bat out, it looked new, I think it still had the labels on.

"Brendan appeared at the window upstairs and he was telling him to go away.

"He was just pointing down and telling him to go.

"But he was shouting ‘Get f***ing well down here’.

"He was getting no response so he smashed the door and gave it a couple of whacks.

"Then he went to the back door.

"I think he damaged it, but then he came back round, shouting."

The young man left and around 10 minutes later a number of police cars arrived and officers spoke with neighbours.

One said Rodgers, 41, left at around 7pm, a couple of hours after the incident.

The Liverpool boss quit his family home and moved into a £1.2million flat in February, after which he grew close to mum-of-one Ms Hind.

Rodgers, who has been praised for guiding his team to the top of the league, has reportedly transformed his appearance in recent months, losing weight and spending ­thousands of pounds having his teeth whitened.

Ms Hind is divorcing her husband of five years Steven.

Dad-of-two Rodgers has denied having a relationship with Ms Hind.

The front door of her property had visible signs of damage yesterday.

The neighbour said: "Brendan came yesterday and he waved to us, him and her, in the car."

Rodgers' wife Susan has not commented on the split.

She had shared a rented mansion with him in Formby, Merseyside, after he left previous club Swansea City to take over at Anfield.

Rodgers, who also managed Watford and Reading, regularly praised his wife for supporting him throughout his career.

He said in a 2012 interview: "My wife Susan is a brilliant, understanding lady.

"I met her when I was very young at Reading and we've been together ever since.

"She's very supportive, she knows it's my passion."

A spokesman for Merseyside Police told the Sunday Mirror: "We can confirm a patrol attended a property in Birkdale on Monday, 14 April following a report of a disturbance.

"Officers were called at approximately 5.30pm to a report of a man with cricket bat damaging the front door of a property. Officers attended but the man had left the scene.

"People in the property were spoken to about the incident and they did not wish to make a complaint."