Klopp charged over wild celebrations

LONDON: Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was charged by the Football Association on Monday after he raced onto the pitch to celebrate his side’s late winner against Everton in the Merseyside derby.

The German was overjoyed by Divock Origi’s 96th-minute goal courtesy of a horrendous misjudgement from Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and raced over to Reds goalkeeper Alisson Becker.

He apologised for his actions after the 1-0 win at Anfield but the FA announced he had been charged with misconduct. Klopp has until tomorrow to respond to the charge.

“Immediately after the game I apologised to (Everton manager) Marco Silva when we spoke to each other,” Klopp said following the match. “I told him how much I respect his work.

“What can I say about it? I didn’t want to run. It was not in my plan. I didn’t want to run to Ali (goalkeeper Alisson), I couldn’t stop obviously. Not cool, but it happened.”

Silva said he did not hear an apology from the Liverpool boss, and added: “To be honest, I didn’t see so I don’t know what he did and how he did it.”

The last-gasp win took unbeaten Liverpool to 36 points — just two behind leaders Manchester City.

Liverpool hero Origi said his added-time winner was one of the most important he has scored for the club.

The Belgium international, making his first appearance at Anfield since May 2017 after spending last season on loan at Wolfsburg, capitalised on Pickford’s error to nod home from close range — his 22nd goal in 79 matches for the club.

“It was a crucial goal, one of the most crucial I have scored for Liverpool so it was special,” said the 23-year-old. “You could see the emotion of the fans and the coach and the players so we celebrated all together.”

Prior to his 84th-minute entrance on Sunday, Origi had played just 11 minutes for Liverpool this season in one substitute appearance during the 2-0 Champions League defeat in Serbia against Red Star Belgrade.

After his disappointing loan spell in the Bundesliga it appeared his chances would be limited and he could have left the club in the summer but Liverpool received no acceptable offers.

“As a player you always want to play a lot of minutes but as a team we have a lot of goals this season and I just try to shine my light and see wherever it goes,” he said.