Coach Jürgen Klopp from Liverpool FC was very happy with his team despite the defeat at Tottenham Hotspur with two sendings off and an own goal for the Reds.
“I told the boys straight after the game that I was super proud,” Klopp revealed after the 1-2 defeat in the Premier League duel on Saturday: “The mentality we showed was second to none. I have something like that I’ve never seen it before. That’s top, top, top.”
After the yellow-red card for Diogo Jota in the 69th minute, Liverpool had to play with two men less, after Curtis Jones (26th) had already seen red after an overly hard entry. Nevertheless, Cody Gakpo (45th + 4) was able to temporarily equalize the hosts’ 1-0 lead through Heung-Min Son (36th) before former Schalke player Joël Matip scored an own goal in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
But even without a point, the game was a win for Klopp. He learned a lot more about his team “than if we had won here and it was a bad performance.” The former Dortmund and Mainz coach spoke of a “really outstanding performance” from his players.
Jürgen Klopp is annoyed with referees
Klopp was much more annoyed with the referees, who in his opinion were not correct in the key scenes. “The killer was the second red card, and there were many other decisions.”
The referee association PGMOL admitted after the final whistle that Luis Diaz’s goal in the 34th minute, which was disallowed due to an alleged offside position, should have counted. This was a “significant human error” and the video referee should have intervened.
“How does that help us?” Klopp said afterwards: “In the good old days, the linesman should have seen that it wasn’t offside.”