Klopp
EPL: Klopp berates officials, VAR in Liverpool’s 3-2 loss to Arsenal
Liverpool boss, Jurgen Klopp, has berated match officials for ignoring handball by Gabriel in his side’s defeat to Arsenal.
Klopp expressed his position against the officials in Liverpool’s 3-2 loss to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.
He believed Arsenal’s winning penalty was soft and should not have been awarded.
During the match, Gabriel Martinelli had sent Arsenal ahead after 58 seconds of play, but Liverpool came back through Darwin Nunez.
Just before the half-time whistle, Bukayo Saka put Arsenal back in front, but Jurgen Klopp’s side pegged them back in the second half.
Saka then scored what turned out the decider from a spot-kick to give the home side all three points after Thiago was adjudged to have kicked Gabriel Jesus in the box but the replay shows it was a minimal contract.
Before then, Liverpool were denied a penalty of their own for what looked like a clear handball from Gabriel Magalhaes.
Speaking to Sky Sports afterwards, the German coach said: “It was an open game, it could have gone in either direction, and then this situation around the penalty.
“And then I think if it’s a penalty, it’s a very, very soft one.
“Like the whole situation, when you see the contact, I don’t even know if there is really contact.
“When Gabriel Jesus is going down there is like a bit of a delay, so it was not ‘band’ and straight down.
“But [the VAR] Mr England thought it was not worth sending the ref to the screen. We cannot change that.
‘He saw that slightly differently in the first half when obviously Diogo [Jota] wanted to cross the ball – not the hardest cross obviously – and Gabriel’s hand was not in a natural position, I would say.”