Jurgen Klopp discusses on VAR blunder that saw Liverpool lose needful victory

Liverpool’s controversial loss to Tottenham following a VAR blunder that cancelled Luis Diaz’ goal has been a subject of discussion on a global scale for days now. Jurgen Klopp thinks there should be a rematch.

‘Not as a manager of Liverpool so much, more as a football person,’ said Klopp. ‘I think the only outcome should be a replay. Probably will not happen. The argument against that will probably be that if we open that gate then everyone will ask for it.

‘I think the situation is that unprecedented that … something like that, as far as I can remember, never happened. That’s why a replay would be the right thing.’

He however claimed he was not angry. While at an interview, he admitted, ‘It is really that unprecedented that part of the refereeing team gave the goal and said goal. That is really rare, and yet it doesn’t show up on the screen on the scoresheet, and we continued with a free kick. So that makes it completely different.

‘I’m not angry with any of them (the officials), not at all. It’s not only the respect, but the only thing for human beings in general is we should not go for them. It’s not allowed to go for them in any way.

‘They made it a mistake and they felt horrible that night, I’m 100% sure. That’s enough for me. Nobody needs further punishment. We should discuss it on a completely normal basis without emotions. I’m not angry.’

In the wake of the backlash that followed the erroneous decision of some members, the Premier League’s refereeing body released the audio of what happened between on-field and off-field officials during the bad decision.

It was discovered that the VAR official failed to relate the off-field opinion on whether Diaz’ goal was to be cancelled or not, thinking the on-field group had the same opinion the off-field ones had. The officials involved in this mistake have since been given a two-match suspension.

Speaking about the audio, Jurgen Klopp said, ‘The audio didn’t change it at all because I was not really interested in why things happened because I knew.

‘I saw the outcome, I saw the goal we scored and it didn’t count so I wasn’t now waiting for the audio and sitting there hoping I’d find out how it could happen or whatever.

‘What I want to say is it’s really important that as big as football is and important as it is for us that we really deal with it in a proper way. I mean that all the people involved – on-field ref, linesman, fourth official and especially now in this case VAR – they didn’t do that on purpose. We shouldn’t forget that.

‘Yes, it was an obvious mistake and I think there would have been solutions for it afterwards. If not, I can say immediately, and probably some people don’t want me to say it, not as the manager of Liverpool but much more as a football person, I think the only outcome should be a replay. That’s how it is. It probably will not happen.

‘The argument against that will probably be if you open that gate then everybody will ask for it. I think the situation is that unprecedented that – it didn’t happen before, I’m 56 years old and I’m 50 years in football and I’m absolutely used to, even if I don’t always deal well with it, wrong decision, difficult decisions – but something like that as far as I can remember has never happened. That’s why I think the replay would be the right thing.

‘The next argument would be if it would happen again, I think a replay would be the right thing to do or the referee has the opportunity to bring both coaches together and say ‘sorry, we made a mistake, but we can sort it, that Liverpool score a goal and we start from there’.

‘In this specific game, what makes it a bit more special obviously is that we conceded two minutes after we scored a regular goal. How all things depend on each other, if the other goal would have counted, we would have started in the centre of the pitch and not where it started, it would have been different. That’s one thing. That’s my view on it.

‘Whether that (a replay) happens or not is not close to my hands. That is my opinion. Howard Webb said the process will be better. That is good. That would be a really good outcome but it doesn’t change that something really happened. What is the solution for that, by the way? Just us saying, ‘okay, yeah, got it, there was a penalty situation not given against us or four in the past and we didn’t get a replay’ – that is different. It is a different situation. A goal was scored. Legal. Fact. In the end it didn’t count. That’s it.’

Professional Game Match Officials Limited, the Premier League’s refereeing body, gave a statement after the match, saying that a human error had taken place. Liverpool could ask for a rematch, but the road to the rematch would be hilly.

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