Klopp Blasts VAR Over Disallowed Tah Goal: ‘Arsenal Wouldn’t Be English Champions’ After Germany’s World Cup Exit

Germany’s World Cup exit has a villain, and Jürgen Klopp named it. The former Liverpool manager said the call that disallowed Jonathan Tah’s goal decided the tie before the shootout even started, and he reached for a domestic comparison that will travel: he does not believe Arsenal would be English champions if the same standard had been applied to them.

Paraguay held their nerve from the spot. Germany, who had not lost a World Cup shootout in 92 years, are going home. The debate that follows is the familiar one — where the line of the defender ends and where VAR should stop redrawing a goal that the stadium had already celebrated.

Klopp’s intervention keeps the story alive past the full-time whistle. For Paraguay it is a result that will be replayed for a generation. For Germany it is an exit that will be argued about for just as long.