PGMOL: Nothing ‘improper’ in referee Paul Tierney’s actions, ‘strongly refutes’ Jurgen Klopp’s claims

Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) has said there was nothing “improper” in referee Paul Tierney’s actions after Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp criticised the official.

He was yellow carded for the celebration, and Klopp claimed that what Tierney said to him was “not okay” when he issued the caution.

The Liverpool manager’s ire was originally drawn after Tierney gave what the Liverpool boss perceived as a soft free-kick against Mohamed Salah in the build-up to Tottenham’s equaliser.

“How can they give a foul by Mohamed Salah [before Spurs’ third goal]?” Klopp said to Sky after the match.

“We have our history with Tierney, I really don’t know what he has against us,” added Klopp.

The history Klopp clarified was Liverpool’s fixture with Tottenham in 2021 when Harry Kane was shown a yellow card for a challenge on Andy Robertson.

“He has said there [are] no problems but that cannot be true,” added Klopp.

“How he looks at me, I don’t understand it. In England nobody has to clarify these situations, it’s really tricky and hard to understand. But again? He was reffing against Tottenham [in 2021] where Harry Kane should have got a red card. And I love this player, crazy player and I don’t want him to get a red card, but he should.”

Klopp went on to question the validity of the yellow card on Sunday, adding that what Tierney said when issuing the caution was “not okay”.

“My celebration towards the fourth official, I didn’t say any bad words or nothing unnecessary, which is fair. I got my punishment by pulling my hamstring. But what he said to me when he gave me the yellow card is not okay.”

PGMOL released a statement later on Sunday.

“PGMOL is aware of the comments made by Jurgen Klopp after his side’s fixture with Tottenham Hotspur,” began that statement.

“Match officials in the Premier League are recorded in all games via a communications system and having fully reviewed the audio of referee Paul Tierney from today’s fixture, we can confirm he acted in a professional manner throughout including when issuing the caution to the Liverpool manager so, therefore, we strongly refute any suggestion that Tierney’s actions were improper.”