Jurgen Klopp will be unable to coach Liverpool from the touchline in their crucial match against Aston Villa on Saturday after the English Football Association (FA) handed him a two-game ban over his criticism of Paul Tierney.
Klopp had said that he "[doesn't] know what this man has against us" after Liverpool's 4-3 win over Tottenham at Anfield on April, 30, following a match in which he was booked for celebrating a last-minute winner in front of fourth official John Brooks. In response, the FA have handed the Liverpool boss a two-game ban from the touchline and a £75,000 fine. The second of those matches will be suspended until the end of next season, subject to Klopp's behavior.
"The first match of the manager's touchline ban is effective immediately and the second is suspended until the end of the 2023/24 season on the condition that he does not commit any further breaches of FA Rule E3 in the meantime," said the FA's statement. "Jurgen Klopp admitted that his comments regarding the match referee during post-match media interviews constitute improper conduct as they imply bias, question the integrity of the referee, are personal, offensive, and bring the game into disrepute."
Klopp's absence from the touchline -- he will be able to enter the Anfield dressing room and accompany his team to the stadium but not coach them from pitchside -- could not come at a more inopportune moment with Liverpool chasing a top-four berth that will almost certainly require them to win both of their remaining fixtures. The toughest of those will surely be at home to Villa, who are vying for a European berth of their own. Unai Emery's side have won nine of their last 13 Premier League matches, drawing two and losing two; Liverpool have the exact same points return in that period.
Klopp acknowledged he had been wrong to question Tierney's views of Liverpool in the days after the dramatic victory over Spurs, relaying what Tierney had said to him when the referee booked him for overexuberance: "He said, 'For me, it is a red card, but because of him, it is yellow', and he shows me a yellow and smiles in my face, that is it."
Klopp added: "It was not cool but I just celebrated in [the fourth official's] direction ... I just didn't think it was that bad but we all know things that don't look that bad in your own mind [are] sometimes different to what the outside world sees. If it looked bad, I will consider getting in touch, definitely."
