Jurgen Klopp will not be on the touchline for Liverpool’s match with Aston Villa this weekend after the FA confirmed his ban for comments aimed at referee Paul Tierney.
The Reds boss had been charged with improper conduct for claiming Tierney had an issue with Liverpool after the dramatic 4-3 victory over Tottenham last month, which saw Klopp booked after celebrating in the fourth official’s face following Diogo Jota’s late winner.
He has now been hit with two-match touchline ban, one of which is suspended until the end of next season, and a £75,000 fine.
An FA statement read: “The first match of the manager’s touchline ban is effective immediately and the second is suspended until the end of the 2023/24 season on the condition that he does not commit any further breaches of FA Rule E3 in the meantime.
“Jurgen Klopp admitted that his comments regarding the match referee during post-match media interviews constitute improper conduct as they imply bias, question the integrity of the referee, are personal, offensive, and bring the game into disrepute.”
While he sought to move away from his initial comments in the press conferences that followed, Klopp’s frustration with Tierney was clear after the Tottenham match. He suggested the referee had something against Liverpool, while claiming Tierney’s comments when showing him a yellow card were “not ok”.
“We have our history with Tierney, I really don’t know what he has against us,” the Liverpool boss said.
“He has said there [are] no problems but that cannot be true? How he looks at me, I don’t understand it. In England nobody has to clarify these situations, it’s really tricky and hard to understand.
“What he said to me when he gave me the yellow card is not ok.”
The independent Regulatory Commission responsible for imposing the sanctions on Klopp detailed the conversation that took place between the referee and the Liverpool boss, with VAR and the fourth official informing Tierney that a yellow card was required after the celebration.
“Right, I have to show you yellow,” Tierney told Klopp.
“It could be red, but I am going to show you yellow. [The fourth official] said yellow. We will give you the benefit of the doubt, don’t do anything more.”
