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Jurgen Klopp wants Tottenham vs Liverpool replayed due to VAR error.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has expressed his belief that Saturday’s loss to Tottenham Hotspur should be replayed due to the incorrect decision to disallow an opening goal from Luis Diaz.
In the match, Liverpool was reduced to ten men midway through the first half. However, they believed they had taken the lead when Diaz raced beyond the last line of the Spurs defense and scored a goal, only to have it disallowed for offside.
VAR Darren England reviewed the decision and believed that Diaz’s goal had been incorrectly ruled offside by the on-field officials, confirming what he thought was the opening goal. However, when play resumed with a Tottenham free-kick, he realized that an error had been made, as revealed in audio released by PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited) on Tuesday.
Despite this error, Liverpool went on to concede goals to Son Heung-min and Cody Gakpo before losing in the final minute of second-half stoppage time when Joel Matip scored an own goal.
Klopp’s statement suggests his frustration with the incorrect officiating decision and its impact on the outcome of the match. However, the decision to replay a match due to officiating errors is a complex and unusual one in football, and it remains to be seen if any action will be taken in response to Klopp’s comments.
In a statement to the media on Wednesday, Klopp said he wanted the match against Tottenham to be replayed before Liverpool’s Europa League meeting against Union Saint-Gilloise.
“The audio didn’t change it [our feelings] at all because I was not interested in why things happened, I knew, I saw the outcome, I saw a goal we scored and did not count, so I was not waiting for the audio and hoping I could find out how it could happen,” he began.
“What I want to say is it’s really important that we, as big as football is and important as it is for us at least, really deal with it in a proper way.
“I mean all of the people involved – on-field ref, linesman, fourth official, and especially now in this case the VAR – they didn’t do that on purpose and we should not forget that.
“Yes, it was a mistake, an obvious mistake, and I think there would have been solutions for it afterwards, if not maybe not immediately, some people do not want me to say that, not as the manager of Liverpool but as a football person, I think the only outcome should be a replay. That’s how it is, probably will not happen.
“The argument against that will probably be if we open that gate, then everyone will ask for it. I think the situation is that unprecedented that it didn’t happen before. I’m 56 years old, 50 years in football and I’m absolutely used to wrong decisions, difficult decisions, all these kinds of things.”