Jurgen Klopp believes Manchester City winger Jeremy Doku could have seriously injured Liverpool midfielder Alexis Mac Allister on Sunday.
In the dying embers of City’s 1-1 draw with the Reds, as Doku tried to clear the ball inside the box, his foot made contact with Mac Allister’s chest.
However, Pep Guardiola’s men escaped any punishment as the hosts were not awarded their second penalty of the clash.
Jurgen Klopp says Jeremy Doku could have seriously injured Alexis Mac Allister after Manchester City drew to Liverpool
However, Mac Allister was captured lying on the floor in pain after Doku’s attempt to clear the ball.
There has been plenty of debate about whether the hosts were unlucky not to be given a spot-kick or whether it was simply not enough to be deemed a foul.
But Jurgen Klopp told Sky Sports after Liverpool shared the spoils with Manchester City that in his eyes, not only was it a blatant penalty but that Jeremy Doku could have hurt Alexis Mac Allister quite badly.
“Isn’t it there to make the right decision and not thinking about how high the bar is to overturn the decision?”, the Liverpool boss asked.
Klopp continued, “In all positions on the pitch, it is 100 per cent a foul and it’s a yellow card. They said he hit the ball but he can only do that because his foot is right there. But if the ball is not there, he kills him, the foot has nothing to do with it.”
“It is as easy as that.”
“For all football people on the planet, it’s a penalty. If you don’t think it is one, then maybe you are not a football person.”
Jeremy Doku got lucky
In our view, Jeremy Doku and Manchester City have every reason to feel fortunate as the foul on Alexis Mac Allister looked like a stonewall penalty and in all fairness, Jurgen Klopp was understandably perturbed.
Mainly, it is key that Mac Allister did not suffer a serious injury.
From the £55.5 million (Sky Sports) dribbler’s side of things, one cannot fathom why he took as much time as he did to just get rid and steer his team to safety.
The Sky Blues were under the cosh and all they needed to focus on was taming Liverpool’s goalscoring threat during the final minutes of the pulsating affair.
All in all, Jeremy Doku was a lucky boy and perhaps City could look back on the decision not to punish his decision with relief if they go on to defend their Premier League crown.
