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Jurgen Klopp’s poor disciplinary record and his failure to heed previous conduct warnings were aggravating factors which led to the Liverpool manager receiving a two-match touchline ban for implying bias by referee Paul Tierney. Klopp was fined £75,000 and will not be in the technical area for their final Premier League home game of the campaign against Aston Villa on Saturday but the second match of his punishment has been suspended until the end of next season. The German admitted a charge of improper conduct in that his comments about Tierney implied bias, questioned the integrity of the referee and brought the game into disrepute. Klopp, who was booked for celebrating in the face of fourth official John Brooks after Diogo Jota’s added-time goal in the 4-3 win over Tottenham last month, suggested in post-match interviews what Tierney had said to him in issuing the caution was “not OK” and went on to add “we have our story, history, with Mr Tierney. I really don’t know what this man has with us”. The independent disciplinary commission, in its written reasons, said the Professional Game Match Officials Limited viewed Klopp’s comments as an “unwarranted attack on Mr Tierney’s integrity” and so immediately issued a statement in defence of the official. Klopp later apologised, clarifying his words and denying he had questioned Tierney’s integrity and while that, and his letter to the commission, were deemed “considerable mitigation” it was his history which counted against him. “Mr Klopp has a poor record for disciplinary offences, having appeared before commissions on three occasions in the past five years,” said the commission in its written reasons. “In November 2022 in an appeal in which two members of the present commission sat, Mr Klopp received a touchline ban, a fine and a warning. “Those sanctions plainly failed to deter Mr Klopp from committing nine similar breaches of the rules. Mr Klopp is a high-profile individual in the football world. He must have known that what he said would attract widespread publicity. “He should have realised that it was incumbent on him to restrain himself and to behave properly. “The statements that Mr Klopp made/adopted were not limited to comments on the immediate match, but extended to allegations of persistent bias against a blameless referee. “The intense media interest that followed Mr Klopp’s remarks was highly damaging.” Klopp created a problem for himself when he charged down the touchline following Jota’s goal after Tottenham’s 90th-minute equaliser had cancelled out Liverpool’s earlier 3-0 lead. From evidence obtained from the officials’ audio, Brooks told Tierney “Jurgen Klopp has just run and celebrated in my face. I think it’s a yellow card mate, minimum”. To be absolutely clear, I know that Mr Tierney, along with all other officials, do their work without any pre-conceived bias or prejudice Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp on referee Paul Tierney VAR backed up Brooks’ opinion and in booking Klopp, Tierney said: “I have to show you yellow… it could be red, but I am going to show you yellow. We will give you the benefit of the doubt, don’t do anything more.” Those were the comments Klopp deemed “not OK” but it was not his behaviour on the pitch which produced the disciplinary charge but the aspersions he cast at Tierney, which he subsequently withdrew in a press conference a couple of days later and in a letter of apology to the commission. Liverpool, in their own letter, stressed Klopp may have misunderstood Tierney and “they do not believe that Mr Tierney purposely gives decisions against LFC and that any suggestion that Mr Tierney was biased or not wholly impartial was totally unintended. “Mr Klopp did not wish to suggest that Mr Tierney was dishonest, just that there were a long list of key decisions which he felt aggrieved by that have involved Mr Tierney. “Both LFC and Jurgen Klopp regret that his comments have become a story in themselves and that there has been any question mark cast over Mr Tierney’s impartiality – that was not intended.” Klopp spelled out his regret in his own letter, saying: “Although it was not my intention I accept now it appears that I was questioning Mr Tierney’s integrity. I take ownership of this. On reflection, the words I used were inappropriate. “To be absolutely clear, I know that Mr Tierney, along with all other officials, do their work without any pre-conceived bias or prejudice. “Although not an excuse, I believe we have made up a high percentage of Mr Tierney’s matches this season? Something in the region of 20 per cent of the matches he has officiated have involved my team. “I do not offer this as a defence, rather it is an observation and could be a reason for both the build-up of frustration governed by an inadvertent accumulation of incidents over an extended period.”

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“One month before the fight, we were so happy; it was a dream,” Ciryl Gane reminisces. Then comes a laugh. “One minute after the fight, it was a nightmare.” It is easy to forget, but the hype around Gane’s title fight with Jon Jones in March was not based on the latter’s long-awaited return alone. There was genuine anticipation for what could have been an intriguing contest between a light-heavyweight great, in Jones, and a heavyweight contender who moves like a welterweight, in Gane. Once the fight started, however, that intrigue was extinguished within moments. Gane, failing to do himself justice – as he would tell you – was taken down early and submitted as the clock ticked past the two-minute mark. “My coach told me every day, every time, every training [session]: ‘Don’t throw the backhand,’” Gane tells The Independent. “‘If you want, [throw] the jab – maybe the uppercut – but not the backhand.’ I threw the backhand, he caught me.” Indeed, Jones dipped his head off the centre line as Gane overcommitted to a left cross, then engulfed the 33-year-old, hauling him to the canvas – weighing down on Gane with every ounce of his new, 248lbs heavyweight frame. Once Gane had been forced to the fence, there was no escape. Jones locked in a guillotine choke, and before the fans in Las Vegas had time to comprehend what had happened, the American had forced his opponent to tap. The vacant heavyweight title was vacant no longer. To many onlookers, Jones’s status as the greatest ever was confirmed within those 124 seconds. And what of Gane, the former interim champion who was sitting with his back against the cage, staring up at his victorious opponent, and coming to terms with a second loss in an undisputed-title fight? The Frenchman was, suddenly, no longer an example of the ‘modern’ heavyweight, and instead a kickboxer with a gaping hole in his game – a gap that Jones had exploited mercilessly. “I was confident in this position [on the mat],” Gane insists, “but I did [something] wrong. When we went back to the gym after the fight, we did only wrestling and grappling, every day. I was already confident, but I know it’s really normal to be more confident and have better reflexes when you do something every day. This is gonna help me for sure.” Technical faults can be addressed, of course, but fighters sometimes suffer from intangible issues in bouts of this magnitude – in moments of this magnitude – that can define results and careers, and that are less easily expelled. “It was really difficult to explain,” Gane says. “People asked me if I felt a lot of pressure during the fight, during the press conference, the waiting... Did you see me afraid? No, I was really happy to be there! I wanted to fight against the GOAT and prove that I’m a good fighter. In the cage, in front of the opponent, everybody saw me really confident. But when we started, and during the fight, something switched – I don’t know exactly why. I couldn’t manage the distance, I was not there. I think when you have a bad feeling, it’s harder to be good technically. “I was not ‘here’,” Gane stresses again. “It was not me, it just was not me – everybody knows that. That’s why today, when everybody asks me if I want revenge: Yes, I want revenge, just because I want to prove that I’m better than that and can put Jon Jones through more adversity.” It is unclear whether Jones will still be around by the time Gane earns a prospective third shot at the UFC heavyweight title. The American, 35, was absent from the Octagon for three years before returning to fight Gane, and his plan to face heavyweight ‘GOAT’ Stipe Miocic before the end of the year looks fragile. Jones has also continually exchanged verbal barbs with Francis Ngannou – his predecessor as UFC heavyweight champion, and a former teammate and opponent of Gane. But while Jones’s next step is ambiguous, Gane’s is clear. The Frenchman, a year on from headlining the UFC’s first-ever French card, will once again fight in a main event in Paris this September. Sergey Spivak, the Moldovan heavyweight with three stoppage wins in his last three fights, will be the tormented tourist at the Accor Arena. “This is my mindset: Every time people ask who I want to fight next, it doesn’t matter who,” Gane says. “I just want to fight, do my job, my mission. I’m a competitor, so any opponent you put in front of me is going to be my mission. Spivak is well rounded – good ground game, good wrestler – so yes, it’s gonna be a test. I’m really happy about that. We’re gonna work on [what we need to work on], and I’m gonna do my best.” In undisputed-title fights, Gane has struggled to do his best; in every other bout, his best has been more than enough. That bodes well for “Bon Gamin” – the “Good Kid” – as he wakes from his Jon Jones nightmare and begins to dream of UFC gold again. Ciryl Gane headlines the UFC’s second ever Paris event, against Sergey Spivak, on 2 September. Tickets will go on general sale at 9am BST on Friday 23 June, via Accor Arena. 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The United States will host FIFA’s new, expanded Club World Cup in 2025, football’s global governing body has announced. FIFA president Gianni Infantino confirmed the 32-team tournament on the eve of the 2022 World Cup final. It is set to feature 12 European clubs, including the last three Champions League winners Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester City. The USA will co-host the 2026 World Cup alongside Canada and Mexico. The dates for the new tournament have not yet been confirmed, but it is expected to fill the summertime slot left open by the now-defunct Confederations Cup. The European Club Association has backed the plans but the World Leagues Forum expressed concern over the “unilateral” decision of FIFA to place the new event in the calendar. “The FIFA Club World Cup 2025 will be the pinnacle of elite professional men’s club football, and with the required infrastructure in place together with a massive local interest, the United States is the ideal host to kick off this new, global tournament,” said Infantino. The formal launch of the bidding process for the 2030 World Cup has been delayed, with the bidding regulations now not being presented for approval until the next FIFA Council meeting in September or October. The appointment of the hosts by the FIFA Congress has also now been delayed until the final quarter of next year. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

New York Giants fans did not have much in the way of things to cheer about last night as the Seattle Seahawks came into MetLife and had a sack party at Daniel J