Jurgen Klopp said that Manchester City enjoyed the better luck in their 2-1 win over Liverpool, turning his fire on referee Anthony Taylor for his decision not to send off Vincent Kompany in the first half.
Kompany was booked for bringing down Mohamed Salah in what appeared to be both a dangerously high challenge and a denial of a goalscoring opportunity.
“I really like Vincent Kompany, but how on earth is that not a red card?” Klopp asked after a game which saw Liverpool’s lead at the top of the Premier League cut to four points.
“He is the last man and he goes in. If he hits Mo any more, he is out for the season. If Mo goes through [on goal], come on, what happens then? It is not easy for the ref, and he may not see it how I see it.”
Klopp contrasted Kompany’s yellow card with the red card given to Sadio Mane for a high challenge on Ederson during last season’s league game in the same stadium.
“When we were here last summer, we got a red card,” Klopp said. “Nobody talks about it. Was it a red card? Probably. Did Sadio want it? No.”
Nonetheless, Klopp maintained faith in his squad over the coming months, insisting that this game would not define the title race, whatever the result had been.
“I have so much faith in my players you can’t imagine,” he said. “If someone had told me after both games against Man City we were four points clear, I would have paid money for it, it’s not possible. It is all fine for us. Not in the moment, it feels really bad. But it is only a moment.”
