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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Alex Young

Tottenham vs Liverpool: Jurgen Klopp and Ange Postecoglou react to Luis Diaz diallowed goal and red cards

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou and Liverpool counterpart Jurgen Klopp has reacted to a string of controversial moments during Spurs' 2-1 win on Saturday evening.

Spurs claimed a dramatic three points after Joel Matip turned Pedro Porro's cross into his own net in the sixth minute of stoppage time to continue the hosts' flying start under new boss Ange Postecoglou.

Referee Simon Hooper sent off Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota either side of half-time, but Liverpool were left aggrieved by the first-half decision to rule out a Diaz 34th-minute effort.

Mohamed Salah played Diaz through and the Colombian rifled into the bottom corner, but the offside flag was raised and a quick VAR check by Darren England at Stockley Park deemed the Liverpool attacker was offside.

Still images of the incident appeared to show Cristian Romero play Diaz onside and Spurs took the lead two minutes later when Son Heung-min poked home. The Professional Game Match Officials Limited have since acknowledged a "significant human error" occurred and the goal should have stood.

Asked about the incidents after the game, Postecoglou said: "No form of technology is going to make the game errorless. The game is littered with historical refereeing decisions that weren't right.

"People think VAR is going to be errorless but there's so little in the game that is factual. People are going to make mistakes and the bar is raised even higher."

Klopp was similarly diplomatic, though suggested those who have played the game - rather than journalists - would have a better understanding of Jones' red card.

He said: "When you see [the offside goal] back it's really clear. Nobody did it on purpose. Whatever I say here just creates headlines."

"The red card for Curtis I'm sure most people in the room think it was a clear red card," he added. "I didn't but then I played football and most people in this room probably didn't."

He added to Sky Sports: "The first red card, Curtis steps on the ball and goes over. Not a bad tackle. It looks different in slow motion. He steps full throttle on the ball and goes over the ball. That is unlucky.

"[For Jota] first yellow was not a yellow. Then he gets a second and to defend with eight outfield players is tricky.

"The offside goal. That is not offside when you see it, they drew their lines wrong. "The ball is between Mo's legs, they drew the line wrong and didn't judge the moment when Mo passed the ball right. "It is so tough to deal with it."

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