Liverpool FC was the superior team in the top game against Manchester City, but missed out on victory. One scene particularly upset Jürgen Klopp.
The 1-1 draw in the home game against Manchester City made Liverpool coach Jürgen Klopp angry after the final whistle. But the reason was not his own team. They dominated the guests for long stretches of the game, but ultimately didn’t have enough luck to turn the game around. Above all, the “Reds” were unlucky with a referee decision – which annoyed Klopp so much.
“It’s a penalty for all football people on the planet, it’s a penalty,” Klopp said after the game in an interview with the English TV channel “Sky Sports”. “If you think that wasn’t a penalty then maybe you’re not a football person.”
Klopp was referring to a scene from the eighth minute of added time. During a final Liverpool attack, City professional Jeremy Doku wanted to clear the ball from the penalty area, only slightly hitting the playing equipment, but clearly hitting his opponent Alexis Mac Allister with an open sole in the stomach and chest area.
The VAR (Video Assistant Referee) looked at the situation, but did not send referee Michael Oliver to the screen to check the scene himself – to the home team’s incomprehension, because there was no penalty afterwards. Shortly afterwards it was over.
No penalty? Klopp: “What do you have to have for lunch?”
“I think you agree with me that this is 100 percent a foul and a yellow card anywhere on the pitch,” Klopp emphasized and then said about Doku. “He hits the ball, but he can only hit the ball because his foot is there.” Then the 56-year-old became clear: “If the ball isn’t there, he’ll bring it [Mac Allister, Anm. d. Red.] around.”
Klopp later added, according to The Guardian: “Why would the guy in the VAR studio think that that’s not clear and clear? What do you have to have had for lunch if you think that that’s not clear and clear?” , he scolded.
Meanwhile, the coach was satisfied with his team’s performance. “Yes, I would have loved it if we had taken one of our big chances and yes, we were lucky when Doku hit the post,” he admitted. But: “We played an extraordinary football game. For us, apart from the result, the most important thing is that we are right here.” He wants to go the full distance with his team. “Let’s see what we get for it,” said Klopp, who is leaving Liverpool at the end of the season but could win three more titles with his team after the League Cup.