LIVERPOOL MANAGER JURGEN Klopp slammed referee Craig Pawson for the controversial penalty decision that allowed Everton to escape with a 1-1 draw in the Merseyside derby on Sunday.
Klopp was furious that Pawson awarded a 77th-minute spot-kick for Dejan Lovren’s barge into Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Wayne Rooney converted the penalty to claim his first Merseyside derby goal and cancel out Mohamed Salah’s superb first-half opener.
“I don’t understand why the ref is doing that. Lovren doesn’t make a challenge. Calvert-Lewin makes a step. The hand is on the back,” Klopp said in a tetchy television interview.
“If you think it is a penalty say so. Does my opinion change anything? I only want to speak to people with a little bit of understanding about football. I am sorry, I am wrong and you are right. Obviously I am not in the mood to answer questions.”
Klopp’s surprise decision to rest in-form forwards Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino back-fired, but the German refused to accept any blame, opting to criticise Everton for a defensive display.
“Only one team is trying over 95 minutes to win it. The other team are not in our box and didn’t have a shot on target bar the penalty,” he said.
“Our performance was good. We didn’t score often enough. I saw only one team playing. I can’t believe the situation with all the challenges. We were clean and didn’t make any fouls. There is always one nasty one — Sigurdsson made that. A clear red card.”
On his team changes, Klopp added: “Twenty-one days, seven games. We can push them through until one is injured and then people say the squad is not deep enough. The players who came on did a brilliant job.”
