06 December 2023 , 09:50
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Jurgen Klopp insists he's not keeping score after Erling Haaland escaped a ban and a fine for his fury towards referee Simon Hooper on Sunday.
Hooper initially allowed play to continue after Haaland had been fouled in the closing moments against Tottenham, with the Norwegian then playing Jack Grealish through on goal only for the referee to immediately stop the advantage by blowing his whistle.
Haaland and his City team-mates surrounded the official, with the forward in particular venting his fury. The match then finished 3-3, with Haaland later hitting out again on social media. City have been charged by the FA with failing to control their players, but as of yet there has been no individual punishment for Haaland.
For many the incident drew similarities with the aftermath of Virgil van Dijk's red card for Liverpool against Newcastle in August, when the Reds captain was dismissed by referee John Brooks and then hit out at the official over the decision. Van Dijk was given an extra match ban and fined £100,000 under what were supposed to be tougher disciplinary guidelines for the new season.
Klopp isn't too concerned about comparing the incidents though, and said on Tuesday: "I don’t know. In most of the years the thing Virgil said no one would have recognised. [He said] 'F****** joke' wasn’t it? I have no idea exactly what Haaland said, I didn’t follow it.
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Virgil van Dijk was given an extra game ban and sent off for his reaction to referee John Brooks (Getty Images)"It is like it is. To be honest I didn’t think for a second about it, when I heard about it, it wasn’t ‘oh we get it, they don’t.’ As long as you are not emotionally involved it is much easier to accept it, in the heat of the moment it is more difficult. They would have probably thought about it and I have no opinion on the outcome."
Meanwhile City boss Pep Guardiola has backed his players following the incident with Hooper, asking “I would like to know how the reaction should be when that last action happened? Maybe Jack wouldn’t have scored, who knows? But I would like to know from the Premier League or whoever, how should we react in that situation to win a tough game.
“How should the players not react? They want to fine us, we’ll be fined. It’s fine. I promise you, all of us, if you are a footballer and it happened, you would react in that way.
“Of course you have to respect the referees. Tell me one player or manager who doesn’t respect the referees. But it's emotions, it's feelings. I don’t understand how it should be different. I understand my players completely. The way we behaved in the last two games against top sides, we are there. We are there.”