Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has been handed a two-match ban for comments he made about referee Paul Tierney during his side’s 4-3 win over Tottenham in April.
This means the German will miss Sunday’s game against Aston Villa at Anfield.
The second leg has been postponed until the end of the 2023-24 season, meaning Klopp will not miss the final game of the campaign against Southampton.
Klopp also claimed that Tierney had “something against” the Reds after the Spurs game.
He was also fined £75,000 after admitting misconduct and saying he I regretted commenting.
Klopp was shown a yellow card for celebrating Liverpool’s 94th minute victory in front of the fourth official and later said what Tierney told him was “not good”.
The governing body, Professional Game Match Officials Limited, said at the time that it “strongly disagrees” that Tierney’s actions were “inappropriate”.
Liverpool sent a letter in response to the allegations three days after the game, suggesting that emotions had run high during the crisis and that while Klopp did not want to “question Tierney’s integrity”, the referee had been involved in a number of “questionable decisions”. including the club.
‘We’ll give you the benefit of the doubt’
However, the FA said the comments set an “extremely bad example” and were “confounded by Klopp’s aggressive behaviour” towards fourth official John Brooks.
Klopp also wrote a letter of apology, saying the words he used in the post-match interview were “inappropriate” and “emotional”.
The FA also released what Tierney told Klopp when he was retained, which the Liverpool boss deemed “unacceptable”.
When told by Brooks about Klopp’s behavior and asked for confirmation from the video assistant (VAR), Tierney said: “Right, I have to show you a yellow… it could be a red, but I’m going to show you a yellow.
“He [VAR] said yellow. We’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, don’t do anything else. “
Klopp was already there he has been given a one-match ban after he was sacked by Manchester City in October for insulting an assistant referee and an independent body acknowledged his “bad track record” in deciding the punishment.
