Arne Slot has broken his silence on the red card he was branded in a chaotic end to the Merseyside derby on Wednesday.
Liverpool came within moments of going nine points clear at the top of the Premier League table after coming from behind to lead local rivals Everton thanks to strikes from Alexis Mac Allister and Mohamed Salah.
But, in the eighth minute of stoppage time, Toffees defender James Tarkowski fired in a volley to trigger chaotic scenes that saw fans run onto the pitch and wild celebrations in the final-ever derby at Goodison Park.
After full time, meanwhile, ugly scenes transpired after Abdoulaye Doucoure goaded the away fans, which resulted in Curtis Jones confronting him and both players being sent off on the back of a mass brawl.
Following that, Slot himself was sent off alongside his assistant Sipke Hulshoff on the back of a clash with referee Michael Oliver that saw him appear to pull the referee during a hand shake and exchange words.
Now, after not taking part in a post-match press conference due to his sending off, Slot has spoken on the events for the first time, roughly 36 hours on.
Arne Slot has broken his silence on the red card he was branded after the Merseyside derby
Slot was shown a red card by Michael Oliver following a handshake and exchange of words
He confronted the referee after the full time whistle after the Reds conceded equaliser deep into stoppage time
‘There’s an ongoing process now and I think I have to respect that we have to respect that so I can’t go into details,’ he began. ‘What happened was that the extra time, five minutes that ended up being eight, happens a lot.
‘The emotions got the better of me. I would love to do it differently and am looking to do it differently next time as well, but I don’t want to disturb the ongoing process.’
As a result, Jones will miss the clash with Wolves this weekend, meaning Liverpool are a man down on their usual four midfield options.
It means Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch and Mac Allister will almost certainly start, but Jones will be back for the midweek game against Aston Villa as he was shown two yellow cards rather than one red.
‘The good thing is we have played so many games,’ Slot continued, speaking on Jones. ‘He got a second yellow I assume so that’s only one game. Next Wednesday there is a game, he comes back from an injury so he already missed a few games.
‘I liked him a lot when he came on. It was our best part of the game, the only part of the game where I felt a bit of comfort and where it felt like a bit of control. That is maybe because we went 2-1 up.
‘I like a lot that he stands up for the team but I think there are also other ways to do that for the team and the fans. I will talk with him about that. But it is the same for me, I should have acted differently after the game as well.
‘But it is an emotional game and sometimes people make the wrong decisions in an emotional moment and that’s what I did.’
The Liverpool boss also spoke on Curtis Jones following his red card after the full time whistle
Jones was given his marching orders after confronting Abdoulaye Doucoure on the field
The incident triggered a post-match brawl involving several players, with both players sent off
Expert lip-reader Jeremy Freeman, meanwhile, has lifted the lid on what exactly Slot told Oliver both before and after being dismissed at Goodison Park. In one clip, Slot could be seen approaching referee Oliver after the full-time whistle. As he walked up to the official, the Dutchman said: ‘Great game’.
They proceeded to shake hands, with Slot seemingly pulling Oliver in his direction before the official quickly brandished a red card from his pocket.
It’s been revealed that a bemused Slot then responded: ‘Sure, you give me a red for that? I will check it out for later. Me and you ya?’
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk also remonstrated with the official and – seemingly confirming that the red card was related to a ‘pull’ in the handshake – said: ‘Hey, Michael, that was not a pull. Michael, it isn’t personal’.
The Premier League have now deleted a statement suggesting Slot will be handed a two-match touchline ban, referencing his alleged ‘offensive, insulting, or abusive language’.
Yet Mail Sport understands that the red for Slot was not solely shown because of the handshake, but also as a result of comments made by the Liverpool boss on two separate occasions after the match.
Our expert lip-reader then analysed another clip from the post-match antics which showed Van Dijk attempting to defuse the situation.
The Liverpool defender told his team-mates ‘Go, hey go…go in’ before then telling Oliver again that it was ‘nothing personal’. In that same clip, Liverpool boss Slot could be seen asking Oliver: ‘We’ll talk after?’
Slot revealed there is an ongoing investigation and was reluctant to speak too much on incident
Slot, speaking ahead of his side’s clash with Wolves on Sunday, attempted to explain his emotions in the final few moments, which saw his side concede the win and then deal with a lengthy VAR check.
The offside call was close, while there was also a check for a foul on Ibrahima Konate, though the goal was ultimately adjudged to be fair.
‘Many things in extra time happened that led to me being quite emotional,’ he said. ‘There was a VAR incident for two minutes and I thought he could look at the foul and all of a sudden I was happy and thought maybe it was offside. Then suddenly you hear their fans cheering.
‘Many things happened in extra time, but it wouldn’t be smart to go into every incident.’