Jurgen Klopp Charged by FA for Comments Towards Referee Following West Ham Draw

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has been charged by the FA for the comments he made towards referee Kevin Friend in post-match interviews following his side's
Jurgen Klopp Charged by FA for Comments Towards Referee Following West Ham Draw
Jurgen Klopp Charged by FA for Comments Towards Referee Following West Ham Draw /

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has been charged by the FA for the comments he made towards referee Kevin Friend in post-match interviews following his side's stalemate with West Ham at the London Stadium.

In that game, the Reds opening goal was clearly offside, but this wasn't recognised by the official, and in the aftermath of the clash Klopp claimed this indecision had affected how the officials had handled the remainder of the game.

Times journalist unveiled the news in a tweet, explaining: "Jurgen Klopp charged by the FA for questioning the integrity of referee Kevin Friend after the 1-1 draw with West Ham. Klopp has until February 18th to respond and an independent commission will then hear the case within a further 10-days. If found guilty likely sanction would be a fine."

The comments in question, as quoted by BBC Sport, were as follows: "I heard our goal was offside, I'm pretty sure the ref knew that.  In 50-50 situations it was always a free-kick for the other team, which was hard and did not make life easy."

And, speaking later to Sky Sports, the German added: "As a human being, if I know I have made a big mistake in the first half, I don't want to open the gap any more. Referees are obviously human beings, and I understand that, but I didn't during the game because I had no clue that our goal was offside."

The ruling was confirmed an official statement from the FA Spokesperson, which proclaimed: "Jürgen Klopp has today been charged with a breach of FA Rule E3.

"It is alleged that comments he made in a post-match interview following Liverpool’s league game against West Ham United on 4 February 2019 breached Rule E3(1) as they questioned the integrity of the match referee and/or implied bias.

"He has until 18:00 on 18 February 2019 to respond to the charge."


Published