Liverpool believed they had salvaged a thrilling point against Toulouse, But VAR determined that Alexis Mac Allister handled the ball far earlier in the attack.
Jurgen Klopp had to watch a horror show from his side. And afterward experience yet another nightmare in Toulouse.
The manager of Liverpool was left feeling angry and frustrated by his young team’s performance as they lost badly in the Europa League and blew the opportunity to advance to the knockout stage with two games remaining.
And afterwards, as the French club hosted his press conference in a TENT outside the ground, surrounded by their passionate supporters, who were chanting and banging on the sides of the structure, he fumed: “We were about as organised as this press conference! Who’s decision was it to hold the press conference here?!”
Klopp couldn’t even be heard in the press conference, and the poor interpreter who had to convey his words in French had an impossible task amid truly chaotic scenes.
The game ended in controversy in the seventh minute of stoppage time, when the Bulgarian referee appeared to give a Liverpool equaliser after a long VAR check, but the goal was eventually ruled out for a harsh handball.
Klopp though, refused to hide behind another poor VAR decision, and instead laid into his side: “We deserved to lose because they (Toulouse) won pretty much all the decisive challenges.
“We gave the ball away easily for the first goal and the second for an unfair goal, and there were far too many instances where we should have won the ball but didn’t.
“We just didn’t do enough defense; our last line was too deep on the counterattack. You have to score a lot of goals in order to win after giving up three goals. In actuality, we did concede five, but two were excluded.
It goes without saying that we almost won a point. Both the game and the atmosphere at the table would have improved as a result. However, I would still contend that we must accept the game. It was well-earned.
Klopp though, insisted the goal by youngster Jarrell Quansah should have stood, to give Liverpool a lucky draw. Instead, Alexis Mac Allister was ruled to hand handled, and the manager said: “I saw now only the video back and for me it’s not a handball. It was with his chest and I don’t see a contact with the arm to be honest. Maybe they have a different view (angle), I don’t deny that.
“It (happened) pretty long before we scored the goal, I was thinking ‘hang on, where’s the free-kick?’ But I’m more concerned that I would have loved us to play better. That’s my main issue tonight. In a football way more aggressive.”
