Jurgen Klopp defended Mohamed Salah amidst diving accusations and claimed that the penalties awarded to the Egyptian were correct.
The forward won penalties against Newcastle and Brighton before he went down easily in the box against Crystal Palace. Salah seemed to ruffle the feathers of the Palace defenders who all surrounded the Egyptian.
Liverpool were not awarded a penalty for that specific challenge, but Klopp was not going to let others call Salah a diver. Speaking to the press, the German said (h/t Telegraph):
“This is the first situation where he went down without (penalty) and you speak about all the other situations as well?
“The other situations there is nothing to talk about – it is a penalty. Done.”
Klopp further claimed that there were others who were going down too easily but no one was bringing that up.
“All the others can do it from time to time and nobody really talks about it. That’s all fine. All the penalties against him (Salah) were penalties but people handle it like it was halfway diving – it was not. We don’t need blood for a foul in football.”
The German then ended by saying he hasn’t spoken to Salah about this issue at all. Klopp is right in defending Salah, and more importantly, the Egyptian has been hacked several times inside and outside the box with the referee not giving the right call.
The Egyptian has been fouled in the box several times this season, and it would have been a miracle had the referee pointed to the spot without Salah going down.
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The Reds need to stay focused on the job ahead and Klopp is doing a great job of protecting the players as the season nears the final stretch.
