Football
Glenn Price, Liverpool correspondent 6y

BT deny Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp's claim over FA Cup extra time

BT Sport have disputed Jurgen Klopp's claim that the broadcaster cut short Liverpool's defeat to West Bromwich Albion in the FA Cup at the weekend.

Klopp was stunned at Anfield on Saturday when only four minutes of injury time were added on in the first half -- a 45-minute period that included three stoppages for the video assistant referee (VAR), two injuries and two substitutions.

The Liverpool manager claims he was informed by fourth official Jon Moss that BT Sport, who televised the match in the United Kingdom, were responsible for the minimal added time in the 3-2 defeat.

"What I heard was that the actual extra-time in the first half should have been 10 minutes. It was only four minutes," Klopp said. "I heard that television said it's not longer than four minutes. The correct time should actually have been seven minutes.

"Of course that's not possible, you can't cut match time because there is something else to broadcast. I don't know what was afterwards, maybe the news or something. It was 10 minutes and so you need to play 10 minutes longer. You cannot say it's now a little bit too long.

"If it is 10 minutes, play 10 minutes. It will not happen often but, if it happens, everyone wants to see the game and not people standing around while someone makes a decision. When we got the introduction about VAR, they have a lot of screens where they can watch it from different angles so make a decision and go.

"Look, we are really used to accepting difficult things. You think that's right, that wrong, you say it, nobody listens. You step back because you don't want to be a bad loser or whatever.

"But that was the situation. I would not have spoken about it but that was the case. Obviously, everybody needs to get used to it [VAR] and it took long because the referee went to the screen to watch it by himself. I felt it was really long and it should not take that long."

However, BT Sport responded to the comments by saying they have no influence whatsoever in determining the length of a match.

A spokesperson said: "As broadcaster, we have nothing to do with the decision that the referee makes about the amount of added time."

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) insists there is no communication between match officials and broadcasters.

PGMOL told The Telegraph: "The VAR official will advise the fourth official on the number of minutes to be included as added time for each half in respect of any time lost through VAR. Broadcasters are not involved in this process."

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