Jurgen Klopp: 'Simon Mignolet challenge not a red'

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has said that referee Martin Atkinson got it right when he opted to not issue a red card to Simon Mignolet during last night's 3-0 win at Stoke City.

The Reds should have been down to 10 men in the first half when Mignolet raced out of his area to deny Mame Biram Diouf a clear goalscoring opportunity, but Atkinson instead opted to give the stopper a booking.

Potters manager Mark Hughes said after the game that the challenge was 'clear', but Klopp said that he was "pretty sure" Mignolet's actions only warranted a yellow.

"I don't think [it was a red]," the German told Sky Sports News. "I was pretty sure in that moment that it was a yellow card, it was outside of the 18-yard box, and I saw two players in our shirt in a better position than the goalscorer, that's how it looked for me.

"I don't think that it looked like that for any of the Stoke fans. There were two Liverpool players weren't there? I can really imagine that for Stoke supporters and for Mark Hughes they see it differently, but if you really look at it, it's a yellow card.

"Lucky for us because he could score in that situation, but as I said we can improve a lot, but the win was really deserved."

The result saw Liverpool move up to fifth in the Premier League table ahead of a trip to Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday afternoon.