Jurgen Klopp believes Saturday’s Premier League clash between Tottenham and Liverpool should be replayed after the PGMOL admitted a ‘significant error’ was made in disallowing Luis Diaz’s goal.
Diaz saw his first-half effort ruled out for offside despite replays showing he was being kept on by Spurs defender Cristian Romero. Tottenham went onto win the match 2-1 in injury time with Liverpool also reduced to nine men.
Shortly after full-time, the PGMOL [Professional Game Match Officials Limited] released a statement confirming the goal should have stood after a ‘significant human error’ in the VAR room.
The refereeing body released audio from the VAR decision on Tuesday night, with the clip revealing how the blunder occurred – and the panic and dismay that arose when they realised the mistake.
VAR officials Darren England and Dan Cook incorrectly relayed a ‘check complete’ message to on-field referee Simon Hooper. Both officials have been taken off the upcoming weekend’s fixture list after an official apology from PGMOL.
While he accepted it was an ‘honest mistake’ from the officials involved, Klopp believes Saturday’s game should be replayed.
The Liverpool boss also suggested both he and Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou should have been immediately consulted to discuss ‘solutions’ – including Spurs allowing his side to score a goal unchallenged to make up for the error.
Klopp told a press conference: ‘The audio didn’t change it at all. I was not interested in why it happened because I knew, I saw the outcome, I saw the goal we scored and it didn’t count.
‘I wasn’t sitting there waiting. What i want to say is, as big as football is for us, that we deal with it in the proper way.
‘That all people involved, referees, linesman, fourth officials and especially VAR, they didn’t do that on purpose and we should not forget that. It was an obvious mistake and I think there would have been solutions after it.
‘But as a football person I think the only outcome should be a replay, that is how it is. It probably won’t happen.
‘The argument is if we open that gate, it is so unprecedented. I am 56 years old, I am used to wrong decisions, all these kind of things. But something like that never happened.
“If it would happen again then I think the replay would be the right thing to do, or the ref has the opportunity to bring both coaches together and say “sorry we made a mistake but we can sort it, let Liverpool score a goal and we start from there”.
He continued: ‘I’m not angry with anybody, not at all and I really think for human beings you should not go for them, it’s not allowed to go for them.
‘They made a mistake, they felt horrible that night, I am 100 per cent sure. That’s enough for me, nobody needs further punishment. I think we should discuss it on a completely normal basis, without emotions.’
More to follow
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