Brendan Rodgers charged by FA over referee comments

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has been charged by the Football Association for comments made about referee Lee Mason in the wake of his team's 2-1 defeat to Manchester City on Boxing Day.

The Northern Irishman was angered by decisions that went against the Reds at the Etihad Stadium, namely Raheem Sterling being wrongly ruled offside and Luis Suarez being denied a late penalty.

Rodgers later described the performance of match officials performance as "horrendous" and questioned whether Mason should have been allowed to referee the game due to him being from Greater Manchester (Bolton).

"It is alleged the comments by Rodgers called into question the integrity of the match referee, and/or implied that the match referee was motivated by bias; and/or brought the game into disrepute; and/or amounted to a failure to act in the best interests of the game," read a statement from the FA.

The 40-year-old has until 6pm on January 8 to appeal the charge.