2 years ago
Despite acknowledging that he should have been dismissed against Manchester City, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp expressed his displeasure with the officials during his team's 1-0 victory at Anfield.
On Sunday, Mohamed Salah pounced on a long pass from Alisson with 14 minutes left to play past Ederson for the game's lone goal.
City suffered their first Premier League loss of the year, but the visitors were upset when Phil Foden's goal in the second half, with the score still 0-0, was ruled off after referee Anthony Taylor was prompted by the video assistant referee to check the pitchside monitor, which showed Erling Haaland tripping Fabinho in the build-up.
Both Klopp and City manager Pep Guardiola expressed displeasure with Taylor's rulings throughout the game, with the latter receiving a red card after protesting an unpunished challenge on Salah with five minutes left.
At the press conference following the game, Klopp admitted, "Yeah, it's about emotion of course... red card, my fault."
"I overreached at the time, I don't believe I was disrespectful to anyone, but when you look at the images later, I've known for 55 years that the way I look in these situations is already deserving of a red card.
"I lost it at that particular time, which is unacceptable, but I would want to use that as a slight justification. How could you not call that foul [on Salah]? How is that even possible? I also hope I could hear a justification.
"I'm not sure how much Pep said right now in this room, but I would guess that he was either really dissatisfied or frustrated. However, during the game, Anthony Taylor entirely sided with the way things were going. Why would you act that way? Both teams, not just one, but I've since heard that Anfield was the location where the VAR decision to overturn Foden's goal was made.
"Anfield had no chance to have any effect when Mo was fouled. I believe we can all agree that there is a foul on Fabinho. Is it insufficient to bring someone down?
"In the first instance, Pep and I were both quite animated, but to be quite honest, it was for the same reason. We were not arguing with one another at all for the same reason.
"Then, [the red card] circumstance, I just had the best perspective, and the linesman, and you can think we are 1-0 up and we have a free-kick there or a counterattack there. That is essentially a 100% difference, and that is when I lost my cool. I regret doing that, but it did happen.
Diogo Jota's late injury was one thing that disappointed Klopp. Even though the Portugal international has only recently made a full recovery from an injury, his boss expressed little optimism, saying: "Diogo, I wish I wouldn't have to talk about it.
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