Jurgen Klopp Says VAR Has Stopped Him From Celebrating Liverpool Goals

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has admitted that VAR has changed the way he reacts to goals, saying he now waits for confirmation before celebrating.

Klopp made the comments after Liverpool secured a hard-fought 2-0 Premier League victory over Watford, with Mohamed Salah scoring twice to keep the Reds at the top of the table.

Liverpool thought they had doubled their advantage in the second half when Sadio Mane headed home a cross from Xherdan Shaqiri, but the effort was ruled out for a marginal offside following a VAR review.

Klopp accepted the decision but admitted he initially struggled to see where the offside had occurred.

“I had no clue where it was offside, to be honest,” Klopp said. “I don’t celebrate goals anymore because you have to wait until somebody says it is a goal.”

The Liverpool manager said he initially believed an earlier pass in the move might have been offside rather than Mane’s positioning.

Klopp also dismissed reports suggesting leading European clubs were considering major changes to the Champions League format.

Reports claimed the European Clubs’ Association was discussing the possibility of a 32-team league in which clubs would play 10 matches against different opponents, alongside proposals that could affect domestic competitions.

Klopp insisted he had not been involved in any such discussions and strongly rejected the idea of adding more matches to an already demanding football calendar.

“We can talk about everything, but we have to cut off games, not put more in,” he said.

The German added that Liverpool needed to remain focused on collecting as many points as possible because of the demanding and lengthy season ahead.