Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp charged by FA following his comments aimed at referee Paul Tierney

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has been charged with improper conduct by the FA for his comments aimed at referee Paul Tierney after the Reds' dramatic 4-3 win against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, May 30.

Klopp was issued a yellow card by Tierney during the match for celebrating in front of fourth official John Brooks. The German tactician later alleged that the referee said something untoward while issuing the caution.

Klopp said (via GOAL):

“How they can give a foul on Mohamed Salah [before Spurs' third goal]. We have our history with Tierney, I really don’t know what he has against us, he has said there is no problems but that cannot be true. How he looks at me, I don’t understand it... My celebration was unnecessary, which is fair but what he said to me when he gave me the yellow card is not ok.”

Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), the body in charge of Premier League referees, has since released a statement on the matter. It read:

"PGMOL is aware of the comments made by Jürgen Klopp after his side’s fixture with Tottenham Hotspur. 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."

Klopp has been charged with improper conduct for his comments and has until Friday to provide a response to the FA.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp conceded that his comments aimed at Tierney were not right

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp recently admitted that his comments about Tierney were misguided. He also stated that he doesn't believe the referee has an agenda against his team.

Klopp addressed the media ahead of Liverpool's Premier League clash against Fulham at Anfield on May 3. He touched upon the controversy involving Paul Tierney, saying (via The Guardian):

"The whole situation shouldn’t have happened. I didn’t say anything wrong [to Brooks]. I was shouting: ‘Without you, without you’. It didn’t make a lot of sense but that was all. Paul Tierney came over to me and I didn’t expect at all a red card because I didn’t feel it was right. I expected a yellow card and he said to me: ‘For me it’s a red card but because of him’ – that’s what I understood because it was loud in the stadium – ‘it’s yellow’. Showed me a yellow and smiled to my face. That’s it."

Klopp added:

"I said: ‘What he said to me was not OK’ and I thought it was not OK because it was not a red card in my view. I understand I opened the box. The rest was how I felt in that moment about Paul Tierney reffing our games. I am very sure he is not doing it intentionally but we have a history and I cannot deny that."

Liverpool cannot afford to be distracted by the controversy surrounding Jurgen Klopp as they face an uphill battle to finish in the top-four of the Premier League. The Reds are fifth in the table with 56 points from 33 games and trail fourth-placed Manchester United, who have a game in hand, by seven points.