‘They were very angry’ – Kulusevski reacts to Jurgen Klopp’s replay suggestion

Dejan Kulusevski has rubbished Jurgen Klopp’s suggestion of replaying Tottenham’s clash against Liverpool, remarking that it arose out of their frustration at losing the game.

Luiz Diaz’s goal in the first half of the clash was incorrectly ruled out for offside, with VAR failing to intervene to overturn the call.

The PMGOL subsequently released the audio from the incident, with the tapes clearly demonstrating that there was a miscommunication between the referee and VAR, with the latter thinking that the goal had been given on the field (Sky Sports).

A few days after the incident, Jurgen Klopp controversially stated that a fair resolution would be to have the game replayed (Guardian).

Klopp’s statement was met with widespread criticism for his comments (Mirror), and it has since been reported that the Premier League have made it clear that there is no prospect of replaying the fixture (Football Insider). 

The Liverpool drama should be put in the past

Kulusevski has said that while he understands Liverpool’s frustration, refereeing mistakes are part of the game.

When he was asked about Klopp’s comments, the Tottenham man told Fotbollskanalen: “I don’t think anything will happen. Mistakes happen in every game.

“It was just a mistake and they were very angry that they got zero points even though they played a good game, and I understand them. That (that a match is replayed due to a ruling) has probably never happened and I don’t think it will happen.

“There are so many mistakes every match, it’s absolutely insane. Sure, it was a big mistake in a top game and they were obviously very disappointed because it affected the game. But I can find mistakes in every match. So it’s part of the game and you move on.

“We were really good. We played really well when it was eleven against eleven. Then they got a lot better when they got a man sent off and we got a little worse.

“Then they got another man sent off. Both red cards were fair, 100 per cent. Then we had a hard time scoring a goal and in the last second, they scored an own goal. It was incredibly heavy for Liverpool and really important for us.”

Spurs Web Opinion

I think it is time for everyone to put this incident to bed and move on. The important thing is that VAR has learned from the error and the communication protocol has been changed in order to avoid this happening again in the future.