FA charges Klopp over ‘bent’ ref accusations

May 3 – Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has been charged by the English Football Association with “improper conduct” for his post-match comments about the refereeing in Liverpool’s dramatic 4-3 win over Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

Klopp received a yellow card from referee Paul Tierney after running along the touchline to celebrate Diogo Jota’s stoppage-time winner. Klopp claimed after the game that Tierney had an agenda against Liverpool.

“It is alleged that the manager’s comments regarding the match official during post-match media interviews constitutes improper conduct in that they imply bias, and/or question the integrity of the referee, and/or are personal /offensive, and/or bring the game into disrepute,” the FA said in a statement.

Shortly after Sunday’s game, the Professional Game Match Officials Limited, the body which appoints officials in the English top flight, responded to Klopp’s comments, saying it strongly refuted “any suggestion that Tierney’s actions were improper.”

On Tuesday, Klopp tried to explain his behaviour.

“The whole situation shouldn’t have happened at all. It was out of emotion, out of anger in that moment,” Klopp said. “That’s why I celebrated the way I celebrated.

“After the game I tried to calm down and didn’t properly. I said (in TV interviews): ‘What he (Tierney) said to me was not OK.’ I opened the box which I didn’t want to open. The rest was things I said about how I felt in that moment and Paul Tierney doing our games. I’m not a resentful person but these things which happen in the past happens, not intentionally but they are there.”

Speaking ahead of tonight’s match against Fulham, Klopp added: “With all the things I maybe expect a punishment.”

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