Jurgen Klopp Charged by FA for breach of contract

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has been charged by the Football Association for questioning the integrity of referee Kevin Friend after the 1-1 draw at West Ham United last week.

Klopp claimed the official had been influenced by Sadio Mane's opening goal at the London Stadium on February 4, which was allowed despite James Milner being clearly offside in the build-up.

“I heard our goal was offside, I'm pretty sure the ref knew that,” the Reds manager had said after the match to BBC Sport.

“In 50-50 situations (after that) it was always a free-kick for the other team, which was hard and did not make life easy.”

The German also said to Sky Sports: “As a human being, if I know I have made a big mistake in the first half, I don't want to open the gap any more.

Now the FA have decided the Reds manager has a case to answer for his comments, with Klopp having until 6pm on Monday to respond.

The FA statement read on Wednesday: “Jurgen Klopp has today been charged with a breach of FA Rule E3.

“It is alleged that comments he made in a post-match interview following Liverpool’s league game against West Ham United on 4 February 2019 breached Rule E3(1) as they questioned the integrity of the match referee and/or implied bias."

This isn't the first time Klopp has got into hot water with the governing body this season.

In December, the Reds boss accepted a charge of misconduct and was fined £8,000 after encroaching on to the pitch to celebrate Divock Origi's injury-time winner against Everton at Anfield.


Credit: liverpoolecho.co.uk