Jurgen Klopp Calls for Replay After Tottenham Debacle
The events that transpired at Tottenham on Saturday have been the talk of the football world. After the VAR audio was released pertaining to Luis Diaz’s goal never being awarded, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was asked to give his opinion on the matter.
Klopp, previewing the visit of Union SG in the Europa League, insisted he is not “angry” with what occurred but did say he wants a replay. He believes this is the only outcome that would be fair in this unprecedented situation.
“The audio didn’t change it at all, I wasn’t interested in why things happen because I knew, I saw the outcome – we scored and it didn’t count,” Klopp started. “What I want to say is, it’s really important, as big and important as football is, that we really deal with it in a proper way. I mean all the people involved, on-field ref, linesman, fourth official and especially VAR, did not do that on purpose. We should not forget that. It was a mistake, an obvious mistake, and I think there would have been solutions for it afterwards.”
Klopp believes that this situation is so unprecedented that a replay would be the right thing to do. He also suggested that the referee could bring the coaches together and let Liverpool score a goal to make up for the mistake.
“I can say immediately, and some people won’t want me to say, not as a manager of Liverpool, more as a football person, the only outcome should be a replay. That’s how it is. Probably will not happen, the argument against that is if we open that gate, everybody will ask for it. I think the situation is that unprecedented that, it didn’t happen before, I’m 56 years old and since 50 years in football and I don’t always deal well with it, but I’m used to wrong decisions. Something like that, as far as I can remember, never happened. That’s why I think a replay would be the right thing. Against the argument, if it happened again I think a replay would be the right thing to do. Or, the referee has the opportunity to bring the coaches together and say, ‘We made a mistake, but we can sort it. Let Liverpool score a goal and we start from there.’
Klopp was then asked if Liverpool are to ask the Premier League for a replay. He said: “At this stage, we’re still going through the information that we have. From my point of view, if you face a situation for the first time, you try to understand it, then work on solutions. But that doesn’t sort the problem, points are at stake. That’s why, for me a replay would be the right decision.”
VAR Audio Released
The VAR audio was released by PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited) which revealed what happened in the lead up to Luis Diaz’s goal being disallowed. The audio showed that referee Paul Tierney was told by VAR official David Coote that Diaz was offside by “a very tight margin”.