Strange irony in Tierney mistake benefiting Klopp

WHEN Jurgen Klopp leaves English football in May, there will be plenty who are sad to let him go.

But it would be a surprise if Paul Tierney is among that number.

That’s due to how often the referee has found himself in Klopp’s cross-hairs.

The German even claimed publicly that Tierney had a grudge against him.

In many of the Liverpool games that Tierney officiated, Klopp had a run-in with the ref.

So there is a strange irony to Tierney being the man in the middle at the City Ground on Saturday.

Tight

If Liverpool become champions, it is likely to be in a very tight finish, holding off Manchester City and Arsenal by a point or two.

So turning what looked like a certain single point into three against Nottingham Forest could be massively significant.

It could be of great significance at the other end of the table too, as Forest are in a relegation battle.

It’s perfectly understandable why Forest are furious with Tierney’s decision to give the ball to Liverpool late in injury time following Ibrahima Konate going down in his own box.

Tierney made a mistake, no question about it.

Even

And you can argue that, over 38 games, these kind of calls even themselves out.

After all, Liverpool were denied a legitimate goal against Spurs when Luis Diaz was wrongly ruled to be off side.

And Liverpool deserve credit for fighting and showing the heart, with a depleted squad, to win.

But Forest have been badly done over by human error. We can’t blame VAR this time. Tierney messed up. I hope Forest can put it behind them.