After Manchester City’s defeat at Liverpool, coach Pep Guardiola was indignant about Anthony Taylor’s team of referees and made a surprising accusation. In addition, the fan camps of both clubs caused scandals.
“This is Anfield,” said the former Bayern Munich coach after the 0-1 draw BBC and theorized that referees at Liverpool games are influenced by the usually heated atmosphere in the legendary arena.
The reason for Guardiola’s assumption was Phil Foden’s supposed leadership in the second half. The goal was taken back because Erling Haaland had previously fouled Fabinho.
According to Guardiola, however, there had already been “a million fouls” that hardly received any attention: “But after we scored a goal, he decided that it couldn’t go on.” Once again he said: “This is Anfield.”
Assessing the scene as a foul would contradict the statements “that such actions happen all the time”, added the Spaniard: “They took it back because we scored a goal – otherwise it wouldn’t have happened. We did lost to a mistake – but this is Anfield.”
Jurgen Klopp responds to Guardiola’s allegations
Liverpool coach Jürgen Klopp was then confronted with the allegations. “I think there were three fouls around our goal. First on Mohamed Salah, then on Fabinho, then on Alisson. And now I’ve heard people say it’s just Anfield,” he said in amazement. After all, it is the task of the video referee to “make the right decision”.
Klopp continued: “Imagine we’re standing here and talking about the fouls that weren’t called and resulted in a goal. (…) Anfield doesn’t make any VAR decisions. It was a foul on Fabinho. I think we agree on that.”
Pep Guardiola thrown at by Liverpool fans
In addition, Guardiola reported an attack by Liverpool supporters. The 51-year-old explained that they threw coins at him: “The spectators tried, but they didn’t hit me. Maybe they’ll aim better next time.”
Klopp apologized for the Reds fans’ behavior: “It shouldn’t have happened. I didn’t see it.” Again telegraph reported, City will nevertheless complain to Premier League officials.
Manchester City: Fans cause a scandal again
But the City fans also caused a scandal. According to Liverpool FC, “disgusting chants” sounded from the guests’ block. These are said to have referred to the Hillsborough disaster in Sheffield in 1989, which killed 96 people.
“We were deeply disappointed,” wrote the LFC in a statement. In addition, the circulation of the guest area was “smeared with graffiti of a similar kind”. It went on to say, “We know the impact such behavior has on the families of victims and survivors of such tragedies.”
Back in April this year, some supporters of the Manchester club attracted negative attention because they sang during a minute’s silence for the victims of the tragedy before the FA Cup semi-final game.
