Jürgen Klopp praised Liverpool for showing their endurance in the title race with their remarkable comeback against Manchester City, but he was baffled by the decision to deny his team a late penalty at Anfield.
The Liverpool manager said his team’s performance in the second half, despite having several injured players, was the best he had ever seen against Pep Guardiola’s champions and a sign that they will challenge City and Arsenal until the end of the season. Alexis Mac Allister secured Liverpool a draw from the spot after John Stones had put the visitors ahead in the first half.
Klopp insisted that his team deserved another penalty and the opportunity to reclaim the lead in the Premier League, after Jérémy Doku made a dangerous tackle on Mac Allister in the dying moments. Liverpool’s appeals were ignored by both the referee, Michael Oliver, and the VAR, Stuart Attwell, much to the disbelief of their manager.
“This situation on all positions on the pitch is 100% a foul and it’s a yellow card,” said Klopp. “He hit the ball but he can only hit the ball because his foot was right there. If the ball is not there, he kills him. It’s as easy as that. It’s a penalty for all football people on the planet.”
The Liverpool manager later claimed he was “over it” and more enthused by a performance that confirmed his side’s title credentials. Klopp added: “Why would the guy in the VAR studio think that is not clear and obvious? What must you have for lunch if you think that is not clear and obvious? I’m really not angry, it’s just the situation. It’s fine. I’m so happy about the way we played.
“Yes, I would love us to use one of the massive chances we created and, yes, we were lucky when Doku hit the post [in the 89th minute] but we played an exceptional football game. For us, besides the result, the most important information is that we are right there. We go the distance. Let’s see what we get for it. The boys fought so hard for absolutely everything to be there.
“Arsenal is firing on all cylinders at the moment, City is City, and for us it is probably a bit of ‘How did we get through all that?’ but we are still there. It is crazy with all these games we had and the squad situation we have.
“Today I saw the best 53 minutes we had against Manchester City. It was exceptional how we played, and important as well that we learned that about ourselves as well. There is no higher scale than playing your best football against City and creating the chances we created against them – counterattacks, quick thinking, shots from distance. How we played through their midfield was some of the best coaching moments of my career.”
Guardiola confessed that his team faced “a huge wave” of pressure when Liverpool levelled the score with a penalty that Nathan Aké’s weak backpass caused. Ederson, City’s key goalkeeper, hurt himself when he fouled Darwin Núñez to give away the spot-kick.
/origin-imgresizer.tntsports.io/2024/03/10/3927164-79776048-2560-1440.jpg "Jürgen Klopp expresses confusion following Liverpool's failure to secure late penalty 3")
“I don’t know how he is but it looks ‘oh oh’,” said the City manager. “We spoke at half-time about defending something in this stadium and then we gave away a penalty. For 15 to 20 minutes after that it was like a tsunami, oh my God, but when Mateo [Kovacic] came on we had quality to keep the ball again. We tried to play.”
Kovacic was introduced for Kevin De Bruyne who, aside from the cleverly worked corner routine that produced Stones’s opener, was uncharacteristically wasteful on the ball. The City midfielder was clearly unhappy at being substituted, exchanging words with Guardiola and his coaching staff.
But the City manager insisted: “It’s good if he’s upset. The decision was taken because I knew what we were missing. We were not keeping the ball and after [the substitution] we did better.
“Listen, we need Kevin and he is really important for us. He was involved in the first half but after we gave them the goal the game was not in our hands. We needed to get back to our level. That was the idea.”