Football
Glenn Price, Liverpool correspondent 7y

Sevilla boss: Second time I threw ball away vs. Liverpool was 'sportsmanlike'

LIVERPOOL -- Sevilla manager Eduardo Berizzo says he was sent to the stands during his side's 2-2 draw with Liverpool for trying to do the "sportsmanlike thing."

Berizzo was dismissed from the touchline at Anfield on the hour mark for delaying the game by throwing the ball away, having been warned by referee Danny Makkelie in the first half after a similar incident.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp and Sevilla's fitness coach Pablo Fernandez were involved in verbal altercations after Berizzo's dismissal and then following the full-time whistle.

Speaking at his postmatch news conference, the Argentine explained that he was trying to make up for his for actions earlier on in the match.

"[There were] two different game situations," Berizzo said. "In the first half when we were winning, Liverpool were on the counter-attack and I did something that wasn't right.

"I did throw the ball away and I was trying to waste time for my own team to try and stop the advantage. I realise that was a mistake.

"However, in the second half when a similar thing took place, the ball came to me and we were losing and chasing the game, I still decided to throw the ball away to try and make up what I had done in the first half. I realise that was wrong and I wanted to try and put things right by doing the sportsmanlike thing.

"I explained that to the Liverpool's manager and he understood that. The only person who didn't understand that was the referee unfortunately. The second one was with the right intention."

Klopp was invited into the Sevilla dressing room after the match, and played down any suggestions of ill-feeling towards the staff of the La Liga side.

"It's all fine," Klopp said. "I think they made me responsible for the red card of my colleague.

"I don't think I had a percentage of influence on this decision. I was not happy about throwing the ball away. But we are fine.

"We spoke about it in the dressing room. He invited me and we spoke about it. Everything is good. It was an offensive throw-in for us and somebody threw the ball away. But I didn't send him to the stand.

"They invited me. One percent [no trouble]. The manager of Sevilla asked me to come in the dressing room and he wanted to explain the situation around his red card.

"We had a completely normal talk afterwards and everything is fine. There was a lot of smiles in their faces -- maybe not in my face, but not because of the things we spoke about, because of the result."

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