“You didn’t deserve this”, “Gave it everything” – Liverpool fans salute ‘absolutely brilliant’ Reds star despite late defeat at Tottenham

Liverpool fans have voiced their support for defender Joel Matip following his unfortunate own-goal in their match against Tottenham Hotspur.

Matip started the Reds' Premier League encounter away to Spurs on Saturday, September 30. A dramatic encounter, which saw the visitors reduced to nine men midway through the second half, was locked at 1-1 heading into the final 30 seconds of stoppage time.

Tottenham finally worked a ball to right-back Pedro Porro in space down his flank and he sent a dangerous cross into the box. Matip seemingly misjudged the bounce and ended up inadvertently thumping the ball into his own net while trying to clear it out.

It brought an end to some stubborn resistance from Liverpool, who kept Spurs at bay despite the dismissals of Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota in the 25th and 69th minutes respectively. This in turn saw their fans on X (formerly Twitter) praise Matip despite his final contribution of the game being the own goal.

One fan wrote:

"Keep your head up Joel Matip. You didn’t deserve this. ❤ "

Another tweeted:

"Don't want to see any hate sent towards Joel Matip, gave it everything with the rest of the lads today. YNWA Joel ❤ "

Yet another fan wrote:

"Really feel for Matip, he was absolutely brilliant today"

Here are some more reactions from fans:

Matip ended the contest with a mammoth 10 clearances, two interceptions, a tackle and a block. He also won seven of his 10 duels and completed 32 of his 40 passes (80% accuracy).

The Cameroonian centre-back was consoled by Liverpool goalkeeper Allison Becker, many of his teammates and manager Jurgen Klopp at full-time.

---

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp praises Joel Matip, slams officials after Tottenham Hotspur defeat

Speaking after the match, Klopp praised Matip and the rest of his side for their resilient performance against Tottenham Hotspur, while criticizing the officiating. The Liverpool manager said (as quoted by daveockop.com):

“He defended outstandingly well today. It [The own-goal] was unlucky.

“All of them are monsters how they fought. I never saw a game like this with the most unfair circumstances and crazy decisions.”

Many Reds fans were unhappy with the decision to send off Curtis Jones, who seemingly got something on the ball before his boots landed on Yves Bissouma's ankle.

They were also furious with Diogo Jota's first yellow card as replays showed Spurs left-back Destiny Udogie tripping over his own foot rather than the forward's. A minute later, Jota was given his marching orders for what was this time a deliberate foul on Udogia.

To add insult to injury for Liverpool, the Premier League's body of referees, PGMOL, issued a statement after the match addressing an on-field error. It stated that Luis Diaz's goal in the 34th minute, disallowed for offside, should have stood. The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) didn't intervene to change the call at the time.