Everton 2-2 Liverpool: Jurgen Klopp furious over ‘legitimate’ goal disallowed in derby | Football news

Jurgen Klopp was left to discard what he considered a “legitimate” goal as his Liverpool side drew 2-2 with Merseyside rivals Everton.

Klopp was exasperated by VAR’s decision to rule out Jordan Henderson’s goal in the 93rd minute at the end of a gripping derby at Goodison Park, which maintained Everton’s three-point lead over its neighbors at the Premier League summit.

Henderson thought he had scored the winning goal when Thiago Alcantara found Sadio Mane with a deft pass and his England midfielder delivered his low center, only for VAR to find the narrowest of offside.

Speaking to the press after the controversial finale, Klopp said: “I walked into the dressing room and there were people standing there saying they had seen the [VAR disallowed goal] situation back and said they did not understand why they whistled offside.

“I’m really in favor of VAR and especially with the offside, you hope the right decision is made. We scored a goal once at Aston Villa and they said the armpit was offside. It sounds funny, but we got it.”

“This time, the image I saw once was that there was no call in the armpit, it was just offside. Since then, I’ve had about 10 interviews and everyone tells me it wasn’t an offside and this doesn’t lift me. state of mind, obviously.

“It is complicated, but we have lost a player in a situation where the VAR was not involved. [Jordan Pickford on Virgil van Dijk] and maybe another in red card situation [Richarlison on Thiago], and we have scored a legitimate goal that does not count. Obviously it wasn’t our day, but it was the performance I wanted to see. “

To add to Liverpool’s disappointment, he suffered an injury to key defender Virgil van Dijk that forced the Dutchman out of the game in the 11th minute when he fell after a reckless challenge from Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.

When asked about the severity of Van Dijk’s injury, Klopp added: “I don’t know. It’s not good. Virgil played for us, I don’t know how many games in a row … he plays in pain and almost everything but couldn’t keep playing. . That’s not good “.

In Pictures: Virgil’s Pickford’s Moment of Pain

Everton took advantage of the Dutchman’s absence when, from a corner, Michael Keane got up at the near post to drive a header that beat Adrian.

Klopp said: “The set piece was unfortunate when they scored because Virgil [Van Dijk] he was not in the field. It was a problem that we had to solve in the game and we did. The problem was that it was the first corner after we had to make the change, so there was a little disorganized moment and they took advantage of it.

“That’s the quality of Everton and with the second goal, we practically avoided every situation like this for the 90 minutes, but once we let (Lucas) Digne cross and I already heard when the ball was in the air from the Everton bench. that they knew I was going to enter because [Dominic Calvert-Lewin] he’s really strong in those situations. “

After Calvert-Lewin canceled Mohamed Salah’s 100th goal for the club, Thiago felt the full force of a terrible challenge from Richarlison who received a red card, and Klopp admits that he will have to wait anxiously to learn the extent of the damage. caused to its playmaker.

“When I came off the field, Thiago told me that in the red card situation with Richarlison that he thinks he got injured. We’ll see if it’s true or not … if the player feels that way we’ll have to take a look at him,” Klopp said.

“I’m not worried about my guys, I’m just not in a good mood because we have injured players in the locker room. That’s not good, but we’ll see how we respond. We’ll show an answer … and we scored a late goal today. It just didn’t count for Some reason “.

Henderson: Officers doubling the lines

Liverpool captain Henderson suggested that VAR officials “bend the lines” not to allow goals.

“He has to be offside with VAR, it’s what everyone wants,” Henderson told Sky Sports after his injury time effort was ruled out.

“I think sometimes they bend the lines to make it offside. I’m not sure how they do it, I’ve seen it before.

“It is disappointing that we did not get the victory. I thought the performance was very good and we deserved to win the game. I think Everton will be more happy with the draw.”

Ancelotti defends Pickford after draw

Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti, who saw 100 percent of his Premier League leaders’ start to the season ending a 10-year, 23-game winless streak against his neighbors extended, was happy with the performance.

“We could win, draw or lose. I’m not talking about the result, the performance was good,” he said. “We wanted to compete against Liverpool and we competed very well in good spirits.

“We never lost confidence, we were able to equalize twice, we had opportunities to go up with Richarlison hitting the post. The performance was satisfactory, I am really satisfied.”

Despite another misjudgment from Pickford, Ancelotti refused to criticize his goalkeeper, who did redeem himself with three good saves in the match.

“I think he played a good game, like the others. Good saves, he was focused on the goal, a good performance. I’m not worried,” he added.

Whats Next?

Everton travels to face Southampton at St Mary’s next Sunday, live Sky sports; Kick-off is at 2pm.

Liverpool visit Ajax in the Champions League group stage on Wednesday at 8pm before returning to Premier League action at home to Sheffield United on Saturday. Sky sports; Start 20:00 h.