Jurgen Klopp has admitted that defender Ibrahima Konate survived a second yellow card as Liverpool defeated Everton 2-0 in the Merseyside derby.
With Konate having seen a yellow earlier on, the center back brought down Beto in the center of the pitch to deny Everton a clear counterattack. It was clearly a bookable offense, but Craig Pawson, the center referee of the game refused to dismiss Konate for that foul.
Klopp acknowledged that immediately, and substituted Konate off for Joel Matip.
“Ibrahima, could have gone, yes,” Klopp admitted after the game while speaking to BBC Sport.
“It could have happened obviously and then we took him off and from that moment we were solid and compact.”
In an interview with beIN SPORTS, Klopp added:
“We took him off because of that, of course. I didn’t see it back, I saw it in the situation and I saw so many football games and saw yellow cards in moments like this.
“We got lucky probably. We took him off and what is even more important is Joel played a sensational game.”
Earlier in the game, Everton were reduced to 10-men after veteran full-back Ashley Young was sent off for two bookable offenses on Luis Diaz.
In doing so, the veteran full-back became the first opposition player to be shown a second yellow card at Anfield in the Premier League since Sadio Mane in 2015.
In the end, Liverpool won the game 2-0 courtesy of Mohammed Salah’s brace. The Egyptian got his first from the spot with 15 minutes to go, before in the injury time, Salah scored again to seal Liverpool’s victory after good work by Darwin Nunez.
