Jurgen Klopp opened his voice regarding Liverpool’s dramatic goal in the match against Nottingham in Week 27 of the 2023-2024 Premier League. According to him, there was nothing wrong with the goal scored by Darwin Nunez in the final minutes.
Playing at The City Ground, Saturday (2/3/2024), The Reds – Liverpool’s nickname – managed to beat Nottingham Forest through Darwin Nunez’s goal in the 90+9 minute. His header from Alexis MacAllister’s sweet pass ensured victory for his team at the opponent’s headquarters.
However, this dramatic goal made Forest players, staff and supporters furious after the final whistle sounded. The reason is, the referee, Paul Tierney, was considered to have made a controversial decision before Nunez’s late goal occurred.
Tierney blew the whistle when a Forest player controlled the ball in Liverpool’s half after play resumed after being briefly stopped due to a head injury suffered by Ibrahima Konate soon after the defender had recovered quickly. After that, he dropped the ball to Liverpool goalkeeper, Caoimhim Kelleher, who then started the ball movement that resulted in the winning goal for the Merseyside Red Army.
However, Klopp assessed that there was nothing wrong at all with this incident. Because, the referee did exactly the same thing at the start of the first half so according to him there was nothing to question his decision to stop the match when Forest had the ball and gave it to the away team.
“It happened exactly the same in the first half, didn’t it? “Exactly the same, only the opposite,” said Klopp as quoted by the Independent, Sunday (3/3/2024).
“I accepted it would happen like that because it happened in the first half. “If that doesn’t happen in the first half, I will ask that question too,” he added.
“I assume that’s the rule, I don’t know. “However, because it happened twice and was handled in the same way, I don’t really understand the reason they were discussing it,” he said.
At the start of the first half, the referee stopped Liverpool’s attack after Forest Captain, Ryan Yates, fell due to being hit by Harvey Elliot’s shot. Then, the match continued with the home goalkeeper, Matz Sels, taking over possession of the ball.
“I understand 100 percent the joy and anger of Nottingham, of course, they are fighting for everything. “But it happened twice in the same and consistent way,” concluded the German coach.
With these results, Liverpool established themselves at the top of the 2023/2024 Premier League standings with a collection of 63 points from 27 matches. They are four points ahead of Manchester City and five points ahead of Arsenal who are just behind them, but their two rivals have not played a game this week.
