Klopp Weighs in on Disallowed Goal

Sadio Mané’s reaction to the disallowed goal that had all of Liverpool Twitter (and beyond) in an uproar is refreshing. The first half effort from Mané, had it been allowed, would have given Liverpool three points at the Emirates instead of the single one they walked away with on Saturday. Mané has rightfully pointed out that it’s really not something worth dwelling on, however, and the Boss is fully in agreement.

“I think it was a goal,” Klopp said in his post-match remarks. “Do I feel aggrieved? I’m not sure. I only think it should have been a goal, but that’s how it is — it’s a football situation. I said it already 20 times [in other interviews], it’s football.”

“When I was a player the offside rule was different, so if someone was in the area where the ball went it was immediately the referee’s whistle. Now, we all know when we watch a game and the ball is going and the player is offside, nobody whistles so he goes to the ball and then the ref whistles.”

The changes to the offside rule were incorporated by FIFA in 2005, but even with exhaustive clarification on what exactly constitutes a player being “involved in active play”, mistakes in officiating do occur.

“It was actually a brilliant attack,” Klopp said about the play initiated by Trent Alexander-Arnold. “It’s what you do in the training ground — you bring one player and you keep one player between the centre-halves, slightly offside and then the other player takes the ball.”

“It’s a pity it didn’t count, but we made a few more mistakes than the ref, to be honest. In the moment, it would have been nice if this goal would have counted.”

Liverpool take on Red Star Belgrade on Tuesday.