Jürgen Klopp raised eyebrows as he joked about referee Simon Hooper before Liverpool’s game against Aston Villa - after a history with the Premier League official he has found difficult to forget.

Klopp was asked about the fact he needed to avoid a yellow card in his penultimate Premier League game or face a touchline ban for his final game at Anfield. He instantly broke into a big grin when speaking to the Sky Sports Monday Night Football studio and remarked: "Yes, and they gave me Simon Hooper, that's obviously the biggest challenge they can find! I am all right. I should be fine.”

Gary Neville instantly asked if he had missed something between Klopp and Hooper when the German manager’s interview finished. And it all seems to stem back to the controversial situation when Liverpool faced Tottenham earlier in the season.

A Luis Diaz goal was inexplicably ruled out after a mistake from VAR. Hooper was the man in the middle during that game, and Klopp was reunited with him on the touchline when he was fourth official for the recent Merseyside derby.

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On that occasion, Klopp was seen to regularly get in Hooper’s ear on the touchline and before Liverpool beat Tottenham in the return fixture last week, he admitted that he had struggled to forget their previous encounter.

Klopp said earlier this month: “I don’t want to make it the biggest subject but I cannot forget the [last] Tottenham game as well, it was just so strange.

“Only the other night was the first time since Tottenham that Simon Hooper was standing next to me for 90 minutes in a game I didn’t enjoy in the first place against Everton. I tried to get it out of my head and couldn’t.”

Klopp was furious at the time of the error, which saw Diaz flagged as offisde before replays showed he was onside. VAR Darren England mistakenly thought the goal had been awarded on the field, telling Hooper the check was complete and the game was allowed to restart before the mistake was realized.

Klopp called for the game to be replayed at the time, declaring: "It's really important that as big as football is and important as football is we deal with it in a proper way.

"All the people involved, the on-field referee, linesman, fourth official and especially in this case VAR, didn't do that on purpose. It was an obvious mistake and I think there would have been solutions for it afterwards.

"Some people probably don't want me to say, but not as the manager of Liverpool so much, more as a football person, the only outcome should be a replay. That's how it is. It probably will not happen."