Jürgen Klopp and vice-captain Trent Alexander-Arnold met with the media to discuss Liverpool's upcoming Europa League match with Union SG. However, both player and coach had to continually answer questions about the last EPL match vs Tottenham that cost the club at least a point in the standings.
In spite of Luis Diaz's goal being incorrectly disallowed due to offsides, Klopp kept urging everyone to move forward.
“It's really important, as big as football is, deal with it in a proper way,” Klopp said. “The officials and VAR, they did not do that on purpose. We should not forget that. Yes it was a mistake and I think there could have been solutions for it afterwards. As a football person, the outcome should be a replay , but that probably will not happen. I'm used to wrong and difficult decisions, but something like this never happened and so that is why I think a replay is the right thing to do.”
Klopp knows that the upcoming match will be a difficult one. Union SG is at the top of the table in Belgium's top division.
“I'm not angry (about the outcome of the last match),” Klopp said. “It is only a bad result if you do not learn anything. It is true we did not get any points, but we took a lot out of this game. We are not standing here with empty hands. I saw a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful team fighting in an incredibly fair way. Now we have a super difficult game vs. Union SG. In football, you have to prove yourself all the time and now we have to do it again because we face a team that is flying and at the top of the table.”
When Liverpool and Union SG do face off it will be brother vs. brother on the pitch. Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister will play against his brother Kevin Mac Allister, who is a centre-back for Union SG.
“It's an interesting side story,” Klopp said. “The family is here. It is a big moment for sure, I'm sure it's special. Brothers love each other, but they still have fights from time-to-time. I did not have a brother growing up, but I had two sisters and that was tough enough sometimes Hopefully though, it's not the main story of the game afterward.”
Sometimes you learn more from a loss than a and that seems to be the approach Klopp is taking after the loss to Tottenham. He seems to have moved past the errors made by officials in the last game even if the media has not. That speaks highly of Klopp's character not only as a coach but as a person and it makes me feel lucky as a Liverpool supporter to have him as boss of the club.
