After a brief outburst of anger over a major error in video evidence, coach Jürgen Klopp defended the referees after Liverpool’s defeat at Tottenham. “Whoever made the decision didn’t do it on purpose,” said the coach about the big VAR glitch.
The referee association PGMOL had previously admitted that Liverpool’s Luis Diaz’s goal in the 34th minute, which was disallowed due to an alleged offside position, should have counted.
Immediately after the Reds’ extremely unfortunate 1-2 loss at Tottenham Hotspur, Klopp raged that it had been the “most unfair circumstances and craziest decisions”. In addition to the incorrectly disallowed goal, his team also received two dismissals. Curtis Jones was shown red after an overly harsh entry in the 26th minute, Diogo Jota had to leave the pitch after two fouls in the 69th minute.
Mistake by the video referee
What particularly caused a stir was the video referee’s serious mistake. The responsible association announced that this was a “significant human error” and that the video referee should have intervened. According to the media, there was a misunderstanding. The video referee thought that the referee on the pitch had judged Luis Diaz’s goal to be valid and therefore did not intervene. The referees in the stadium saw their offside decision confirmed.
Klopp reacted bitterly to the admission of the VAR error. “How does that help us?” said Klopp and added: “In the good old days, the linesman should have seen that it wasn’t offside.”
His team had already been outnumbered and was able to equalize the hosts’ 1-0 lead through Heung-Min Son (36th) thanks to Cody Gakpo’s goal (45th 4). In the sixth minute of added time, former Schalke player Joël Matip scored an own goal that sealed Liverpool’s defeat.
