Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp goes on ruthless ref rant as he calls out offside VAR decision
Jurgen Klopp was not completely happy despite Liverpool winning 2-0 away to Burnley on Boxing Day.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has launched into another rant about VAR as a result of Harvey Elliott’s disallowed goal in the Reds’ 2-0 win away to Burnley. The England Under-21 star thought he had doubled his side’s lead in the second half, but VAR adjudged Mohamed Salah to be offside and blocking the line of sight of goalkeeper James Trafford.
However, Amazon Prime pictures showcased that Salah was pushed into that position by a Burnley defender and Klopp felt that irregardless of Salah, Trafford was not going to save Elliott’s sharp finish.
As he was shown a replay, Klopp launched into a scathing rant about VAR. “Only somebody who never played football could have made that,” he said. “Only they can make this offside call. They will tell us in the end that it’s offside, whatever, he looked at it (for) five minutes and it’s insane when you see that.
“Honestly, honestly. It starts with pulling them over to have a look at it. This man if he never played football, then he can think ‘offside rule, let me see page seven, there’s somebody between him and the goalie’, that’s ridiculous.”
Liverpool icon Steve McManaman reiterated Klopp’s insistence that Salah was only in an offside position because he was pushed into one. And Trafford was not going to save Elliott’s strike as he was already heading in the opposite direction – a call that McManaman felt was “madness”.
The result did send Liverpool top of the table, however, at least until Arsenal host West Ham on Thursday. “It’s nice,” Klopp added as he was shown a picture of the league table. “It will probably change, I don’t know when, but that’s no problem. 42 points, it was not perfect, but we are alright and we are where we are.”
“But in general, I have to say that it’s nothing to do with the result today and nothing to do with us because who cares now. There are too many situations where we discuss after the game with a little bit of a football view, it would clearly say: ‘Oh it’s just the other way around’.
“Why do referees create their own view on something? Collectively because in the end everybody says: ‘No it’s like this, it’s like that’, just think the community of the refs say: ‘No, it’s like that’.
“But we all watch football and we all need referees, but we need them with the right interpretations of the rules. How can you make of this situation not a goal? Wow. If it was not us I would say it’s a clear goal. Obviously it is like it is, handball is sometimes handball and all these kinds of things…”
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Liverpool return to top of Premier League table as Darwin Nunez ends goal drought in win over Burnley
Darwin Nunez ended his two-month goal drought in spectacular fashion as Liverpool leapfrogged above Arsenal into top spot in the Premier League table.
In what was a one-sided affair at Turf Moor, the Reds emerged as 2-0 winners to go two points clear in the Premier League.
It took just six minutes for the Merseyside outfit to take the lead, with Nunez grabbing his first top-flight goal since the 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest on October 29.
The Uruguay international was picked out on the edge of the box by Cody Gakpo, with the 24-year-old’s first time curling strike nestling into the bottom right corner.
Liverpool’s opener should have been the first of many, but they spurned a number of chances – with Mohamed Salah smacking the crossbar when sent clean through.
Jurgen Klopp‘s men did find the back of the net before the break through Gakpo, but the goal was ruled out after Nunez was adjudged to have pushed Charlie Taylor.
It was more of the same in the second, with the visitors again having a goal ruled out by VAR.
This time it was Harvey Elliott who thought he had doubled his side’s lead, with the England youngster stabbing home from close range.
However, Salah, who was in an offside position, was determined to be in front of James Trafford’s eyeline – hindering the Clarets goalkeeper’s vision.
Against the run of play, the hosts almost managed to find an equaliser through Johann Berg Gudmundsson.
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