Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp responds to Erling Haaland's punishment after Man City man's foul-mouthed comment against referee Simon Hooper
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp said he's uninterested in whether Erling Haaland is punished for his recent comments about referee Simon Hooper.
The Manchester City striker was livid with Hooper for denying the Cityzens a chance to win their Premier League match against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday (December 3).
After the Norway international managed to keep his balance following a foul at the halfway line, he managed to set Jack Grealish through on goal in stoppage time. Deciding against playing advantage, the on-field referee called the play back for the infringement on Haaland, with the scores still at 3-3.
Incensed by the call, the former Borussia Dortmund attacker wrote on his X account, along with a clip of the incident:
"Wtf."
Klopp saw Virgil van Dijk serve a one-game ban and pay a fine of £100,000 for inappropriately reacting to his sending-off in the 2-1 win against Newcastle (August 27).
When asked for his opinion on Haaland's punishment, Klopp responded by saying (via Liverpool Echo):
"I don’t know. In most of the years the thing Virgil said no one would have recognized. [He said] 'F****** joke' wasn’t it? I have no idea exactly what Haaland said, I didn’t follow it."
He added:
"It is like it is. To be honest, I didn’t think for a second about it, when I heard about it, it wasn’t, ‘Oh we get it, they don’t.’ As long as you are not emotionally involved, it is much easier to accept it, in the heat of the moment it is more difficult. They would have probably thought about it and I have no opinion on the outcome."
Haaland and Co. will be in action on Wednesday (December 6) when Manchester City face Aston Villa.
Liverpool defender set to be out for months after knee injury
Liverpool defender Joel Matip is set to be out for several months after picking up a knee ligament injury in Sunday's (December 3) 4-3 win against Fulham. The Cameroon international was withdrawn in the 69th minute and replaced by Ibrahima Konate.
This season, the defender has started nine Premier League and two Europa League fixtures for Jurgen Klopp. Addressing Matip's injury, Klopp said (via The Guardian):
"When the doctor comes in and says: ‘It doesn’t look great’… but we have to wait for the scans and the scan isn’t here yet. You can imagine it doesn’t look great. It is never good news [when a doctor says that immediately]."
Liverpool are preparing to face Sheffield United and close the five-point gap between them and table-toppers Arsenal. Either Joe Gomez or Konate is likely to partner van Dijk in a central defensive role.