Leeds United chief executive Angus Kinnear has appeared to criticise Jurgen Klopp, suggesting the Liverpool manager influenced referee Craig Pawson's decision to send off Pascal Struijk for his challenge on Harvey Elliott.
Marcelo Bielsa's side appealed Struijk's dismissal in the days following the Reds' 3-0 win at Elland Road a fortnight ago, but were unsuccessful in their efforts to overturn this call.
Elliott was challenged from behind by the 22-year-old defender, resulting in the Liverpool teenager being stretchered off and suffering a serious ankle injury.
READ MORE: Jurgen Klopp clarifies James Milner 'dressing room fight' claim at Liverpool
Despite being on the receiving end of such an unfortunate setback, the 18-year-old sympathised for Struijk and described the FA's decision to reject Leeds' appeal as 'wrong'.
Struijk is absent from the Leeds team taking on West Ham United this afternoon, the final game he has been forced to sit out as part of his three-match ban.
Ahead of today's contest, Kinnear made a point of discussing Struijk's suspension in his match programme notes while aiming a clear dig at Klopp in the process.
“I believe we made a compelling case a tackle that was not even viewed as a foul by any of the officials, the opposing players, and a crowd of 37,000 could retrospectively be deemed a dismissal on the strength of an assessment of the seriousness of the injury,” he said.
“One of the panel of three agreed there is an inherent risk to the welfare of a player in every challenge and therefore the tackle was not serious foul play.
“Conversely, the remaining two delegates did not agree.
“They argued it was an obvious refereeing error and may have inadvertently set a precedent any serious injuries that occur during physical contact must be met with disciplinary action.
“Following the panel’s decision we were left with no other recourse than to humbly request to the Premier League opposing head coaches are not selected to officiate any more of our games for the remainder of this season.”
