Jurgen Klopp has criticised referee Felix Brych after Liverpool‘s 3-1 defeat by Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie on Tuesday.
Real started superbly on the night, with Vinicius Junior opening the scoring after 27 minutes.
The Brazilian latched onto a lofted through ball from Toni Kroos before firing a shot beyond the reach of Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson.
Zinedine Zidane’s side scored again on 36 minutes, but this time the goal was full of controversy.
Moments before, it looked as if Sadio Mane had been brought down by defender Lucas Vazquez while clean through on goal.
However, referee Brych waved play on. Marco Asensio then scored for Real at the other end in the same passage of play.
Mane was later booked for dissent.
Klopp believes there was “something personal” in referee’s Mane decision
After the game, Klopp said that he didn’t understand the referee’s decision not to award a foul on Mane in the build-up to the goal, and said he thought that it was “something personal”.
He said: “The situation with Sadio, what the ref did tonight I have to say I don’t understand.
“For me that was something personal because he dealt with the situation with Sadio, which was a clear foul, like he was a diver or whatever.
“From the moment on, whenever he went down he didn’t get anything anymore. That is not right.
“That is what I told him after the game, that I thought he was unfair with Sadio.”
However, Klopp admitted that even with the decision, Liverpool did not deserve to win the game.
“That doesn’t change anything at all,” he added.
“He [Brych] didn’t lose the game.
“We were not good enough to get a better result, but in these moments you need just an okay ref. That would have been enough.”
Liverpool will go into next week’s second leg with a two-goal deficit.
Despite Mohamed Salah‘s close range strike giving them a crucial away goal, it was Real who would have the final say of the night.
Vinicius slotted home his second goal of the night to put the Spanish side 3-1 up.
The second leg will take place on 14 April at Anfield.
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