Liverpool FC has taken the temporary lead in the Premier League! The Reds won 2-0 (1-0) at Burnley FC on Boxing Day and temporarily moved past Arsenal FC with 42 points. Head coach Jürgen Klopp struggled with the refereeing performance after the game.
It was a not undeserved, but ultimately somewhat fortunate victory for Klopp’s men. Darwin Núnez gave the guests an early lead (6th), Diogo Jota made the final score 2-0 (90th). Liverpool had many top-class chances, especially in the first half, but handled them carelessly and made things unnecessarily exciting.
Klopp: “It’s crazy!”
There was once again a stir about the referee’s performance: Harvey Elliott had put the ball in the net (55th), the youngster was already celebrating his second goal of the season, but the goal was taken back. Mohamed Salah was offside and in the field of vision of Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford.
Klopp couldn’t understand the decision and spoke after the game Sky: “I just saw Mo Salah’s offside position. You can only decide that if you have never played football yourself. Otherwise it won’t work!”
For the 56-year-old, the offside position was undisputed, but the goal should still have counted: “Wherever Mo is standing, the goalkeeper has absolutely no chance of getting to the ball. It doesn’t bother you and so on, it’s crazy!”
Two Liverpool goals disallowed
The VAR took center stage for the first time in the 29th minute: Cody Gakpo’s goal that supposedly made it 2-0 was called back by Paul Tierney. The referee identified an offensive foul by Núnez, but the VAR did not intervene.
SkyExpert René Adler could not understand the decision: “It is an example from the never-ending saga of VAR mistakes. I don’t feel like talking about it anymore,” concluded the 38-year-old. In the slow motion, there was no clear contact between Nunez and his opponent.
When it comes to Klopp and Tierney, there is a history: In May of this year, the Reds won 4-3 against Tottenham Hotspur and Klopp railed against the official after the game. There have been problems between Klopp and Tierney in the past.
However, the German coach didn’t talk about that after the game, instead he was happy about the days off: “Now it’s over – both Christmas and this intense period. Now we have five or six days off, I don’t know exactly. This feels like we should all be going on vacation, to be honest.”
Klopp is considered a Boxing Day expert
Including today’s win, Klopp has won all of his six Boxing Day meetings as Liverpool coach. As a result, the cult coach became the sole record holder; no coach has a better record.
In addition, the strain in the past few weeks has been brutal, especially for the players. According to Klopp, one of the reasons why we didn’t win higher: “There aren’t that many explanations for the great opportunities we left behind today. So it must have been something in it somewhere.”