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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Sport
Jack Watson

Jurgen Klopp charged by FA for comments about referee in Liverpool's draw against West Ham

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has been charged by the FA for comments he made about the officiating in their 1-1 draw against West Ham.

Klopp felt that the referee, Kevin Friend, was making up for a mistake he made in the first half by giving decisions in West Ham's favour after the break.

"I heard our goal was offside, I'm pretty sure the ref knew that in the second half," said the Liverpool manager after the 4 February match. "In 50-50 situations or 60-40, it was always a free-kick for the other team, which was hard and did not make life easy."

An FA statement read: "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."

Klopp has until 18:00 on Monday 18 February to respond.

The German manager accepted an £8,000 fine and was warned by the FA about his future behaviour for running onto the pitch and celebrating Divovk Origi's bizarre last-minute winning goal against Everton.

After the derby in December he said that fines are to be expected when rules are broken.

"That's what rules are for. I couldn't avoid it" he said in December. "If you break the rules you have to be fined for it.

"If there was no rule then managers would constantly celebrate on the pitch. I don't think anyone thought it was massively wrong."

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