Chapter 777 Chapter-775 Derby Fallout

Liverpool had beaten Everton 3–0 in the Merseyside derby, and the final whistle had blown.

But the fierce clashes on the pitch didn't end with the whistle—if anything, they kicked off a storm in the aftermath.

Julien had always kept a low profile. He rarely gave post-match interviews of his own accord.

This time, though, he stepped in front of the cameras—it was a rare thing for him.

"Tonight's match was hard," he said, not bothering to hide his frustration. "We won, but it wasn't a pleasant way to win it."

"If anyone thinks they can stop Liverpool from winning with constant fouls, malicious tackles, or by trying to hurt our players—they're dead wrong. Football is supposed to be about skill and teamwork, not about kicking lumps out of your opponent to stop them playing. That kind of football doesn't respect the opposition, and it doesn't respect the game itself."

Julien's words went straight at Everton's rough play and the referee's lax handling of it that night.

The rare, hard-edged statement set the football world talking within minutes. And every one of his Liverpool teammates backed him up without exception.

It didn't take long. Not long after the final whistle, Liverpool's players were already posting in support of Julien across social media.

Pogba uploaded a clip of the moment an Everton player had scythed down Julien and Suárez, captioning it: "Football needs physicality. It doesn't need malice. Respect for every player on the pitch—that's what the game should be."

Coutinho reposted the clip of Julien's interview and added, simply, "We stand together. We will not let anyone hurt our teammates through foul means."

Van Dijk, De Bruyne, and others spoke up too—some posting footage of Everton fouls that had gone unpunished, others saying flatly that the officiating that night had made no sense to them.

It wasn't just the players. Manager Klopp, too, stood up for his club and his men at the post-match press conference looking unhappy.

"My players had a hard time out there tonight," he said. "Again and again, they were fouled with intent and put on the ground, and they got none of the protection they should have had."

"If the way to stop a gifted player is to injure him—to make him afraid to let go and just play—then that's a real shame for the game. I hope in future matches the officials give players more protection, and let football go back to being about what makes it beautiful."

Liverpool's united, defiant stance became a flashpoint the moment the major outlets picked it up.

It was the biggest talking point in football.

Every major sports outlet ran with it.

"JULIEN'S RARE OUTBURST! Digs at Ref, Questions Rivals—Reds Rally Behind Him in Growing Storm"

"KLOPP BACKS HIS MEN, BLASTS MALICIOUS FOULS: 'This Kind of Football Is a Shame'"

The outlets broke the controversial decisions down in detail, cataloguing every dirty moment from Everton's side of the pitch that night, and, largely, they sympathized with Liverpool's response.

At the same time, they questioned whether the referee's standard that night had been reasonable at all.

Fans piled in behind Liverpool in even greater numbers.

Hashtags like #LiverpoolDeservedBetter and #RespectFootballRespectPlayers shot straight up the trending charts.

Reds fans left comment after comment.

"Everton went way too far. Julien and Louis got put on the ground over and over, and the ref just looked the other way."

"Julien's right. You cannot stop the Reds by kicking them."

"Stand behind the whole squad. Hoping the FA actually does something about this."

Even plenty of neutral fans agreed: the officiating that night really had been too loose, some of Everton's fouls had bordered on intentional harm, and Liverpool's response was more than justified.

Yet as the storm grew louder and louder, the FA stayed completely silent.

No direct response of any kind—no explanation of the night's decisions, no statement on Everton's conduct.

That silence only fed the fans' anger further, and plenty of them began to suspect the FA of simply looking the other way.

The storm hadn't died down, but Liverpool couldn't afford to let it throw them off their rhythm with a schedule this packed.

Not long after the derby, the Reds were already packing their bags for the road, heading off to the second round of the Champions League group stage—an away trip to face Swiss side Basel.

Despite everything going on off the pitch, morale in the squad stayed high.

Confidence going into the Champions League tie was sky-high.

As for Basel, this season had not been kind to the Swiss side.

A club that had dominated Swiss football for years and produced stars like Shaqiri and Xhaka, Basel had lost its star player over the summer.

Egyptian winger Salah had completed his move to Chelsea. He had been the engine behind Basel's attack, and once he left, the team's ability to break down flanks and find goals dropped off sharply.

A few reinforcements had come in over the summer, but none of them had come close to filling the hole Salah left behind.

The squad's overall level had clearly slipped compared to last season, and with it, their competitiveness in Europe.

On Liverpool's side, Julien had taken a battering of malicious fouls in the derby against Everton and burned through a huge amount of energy doing it. With that in mind, Klopp decided to rest him for this one, to protect his best player—give him the chance to recover properly.

It was a decision that left fans who'd been hoping to see Julien pull off another Champions League masterclass a little disappointed.

Once the match kicked off, Liverpool didn't come out with the same all-out attacking approach they usually showed. Instead, they played it relatively safe, working the ball through midfield, probing Basel's defensive setup, careful not to burn energy they didn't need to burn.

Even so, the Reds' attacking threat never really let up.

With the depth of their squad and the sheer individual quality on the pitch, chances kept coming, and Basel's back line stayed under constant pressure.

In the 19th minute, Liverpool created the first real opening. Kroos found a pinpoint pass through midfield out to the right, Sterling burst forward, beat Basel's full-back, and slid a low cross across the box.

Sturridge arrived on cue, kept his composure, and finished it clean.

1–0!

Liverpool had broken the deadlock first, taking the lead on the road.

With the lead in hand, Liverpool stayed disciplined—rock-solid at the back, still hunting for chances up front.

In the 37th minute, Liverpool scored again. Pogba won the ball in midfield with an interception, then threaded a pass straight through. Sterling used his blistering pace to burst past his marker, cut into the box, kept his cool in front of the keeper, and slotted it home. 2–0!

With just half a match played and without Julien even in the starting eleven—Liverpool were already up 2–0 on Basel, a real showcase of just how deep their squad ran.

The half ended 2–0.

Liverpool's efficient attacking had let them cruise into control of the match while playing a relatively conservative game plan. Basel, by contrast, looked spent unable to build anything up front, leaking gaps at the back again and again.

The second half began.

Basel tried to fight back, shifting their setup and pushing forward harder, but Liverpool never let go of the match's rhythm—airtight at the back, no letting up at the front either.

In the 62nd minute, Liverpool extended their lead again. Kroos picked the ball up in midfield, spotted Sturridge making a run, and sent a long ball over the top that cleared Basel's entire back line. Sturridge got there first, took it in stride, turned, and hammered it home.

3–0!

It was Sturridge's second of the night, and it sealed the win for Liverpool.

With the score at 3–0, Klopp was more resolved than ever to leave Julien on the bench.

Even as the crowd kept chanting his name, hoping to see him come on, Klopp never made the substitution.

By now, Julien didn't need a Champions League goal or assist to prove anything about himself.

A World Cup winner, a European Championship semi-finalist, a league champion—the honours were already piling up. He was already one of the biggest stars in world football.

Resting up properly, getting ready for the packed schedule ahead—that was what mattered most right now.

As the match wound down, Basel finally found their opening. A quick counter-attack ended with González finding the net, pulling one back to make it 1–3.

But there was barely any time left on the clock, and Basel had nothing left to mount a comeback with.

In the end, the referee blew the final whistle. Liverpool had won 3–1 away at Basel, taking the second round of the Champions League group stage and keeping their winning streak alive.

At the post-match press conference, Klopp was asked again about the controversial derby decisions and the difference in how contact was handled between the Premier League and the Champions League.

His answer had a bite to it.

"Tonight went smoothly," he said. "My players got to play relaxed. The atmosphere for contact in the Champions League is a bit better than in the Premier League—the officials give the players more protection, and it lets football go back to being about skill and teamwork."

He paused, then added,

"Then again, maybe that's what makes the Premier League special. More blood and iron. More intensity."

On the surface, it sounded like praise for the Premier League. In reality, it was a jab at just how often malicious fouls went unpunished there—another shot at how the Premier League handled its standards.

With that, stirred along by the English press, the controversy over Premier League officiating refused to die down.

And by the time the Reds were preparing to host West Brom at Anfield in Matchweek 7, the major outlets were still deep in discussion of the Merseyside derby fallout and of Klopp's pointed dig at Premier League officiating afterward.

The conversation kept circling the same two questions—was the Premier League's standard for fouls too loose, and should players who fouled be punished harder?

Plenty of outlets argued that the FA's continued silence on the derby controversy amounted to tacit approval of the rough play running through the Premier League—and that other clubs were already starting to copy Everton, trying to use hard fouls to stop Liverpool.

Other outlets warned that if the FA kept refusing to take a clear position, kept refusing to tighten its officiating standard, the malicious fouls in the Premier League would only get worse—to the point where top players could get hurt, and the whole league's quality and competitiveness would suffer for it.

The whole debate over officiating standards—it meant Liverpool's match against West Brom was already loaded with tension before it had even kicked off.

With the media storm swirling and the threat of more rough treatment hanging over them,

Klopp called a team meeting during training in the lead-up to the match. "In the next match," he told them, "give everything you've got but more than that, protect yourselves out there.

We all know the FA still hasn't responded to what happened last time. They're not going to want to see us provoke anything and get away clean.

So, when the other side gets physical, don't lose your heads but don't just take it and turn the other cheek either. If they go hard, we go hard right back. If they ease off, we ease off too. Tit for tat—that's the best answer we can give them.

And at the same time, give everything you've got. Let our goals, let winning, be our answer to every bit of unfairness and every bit of malice. That's the strongest weapon we've got."

The players nodded, one after another.

At three o'clock on the afternoon of October 4th, Anfield was packed to the rafters.

Matchweek 7 of the Premier League—Liverpool at home to West Brom kicked off right on time.

Just as the press had predicted, West Brom clearly meant to follow Everton's playbook, hoping to grind out at least a point off a Liverpool side riding a hot streak through sheer, malicious defending.

From the first whistle, West Brom's players came out showing strong aggression, throwing themselves into every challenge, fouling again and again, trying to break Liverpool's rhythm—and testing the referee's tolerance while they were at it.

And it was obvious, right from the start—tonight's referee was, once again, letting West Brom get away with it.

Liverpool's players tried to keep their heads down and stay out of any confrontation, focused only on the game itself. But West Brom's fouling only got more brazen.

In the 12th minute, Julien picked up the ball out on the left, lining up a run past West Brom's full-back. In a panic, the defender simply stuck a leg out and took him down.

As Julien went down, the studs caught his shin—his sock tore open on impact with a clear gash in the fabric, and a thin scrape was left on the skin underneath.

"Ahh—!"

Julien cried out and hit the ground. But the referee barely gave it a second look.

A moment passed.

Julien slowly pulled himself up off the turf, walked over to the referee, and pointed to the torn sock and the mark on his shin. "This isn't a foul?!"

The referee just glanced at it, shook his head, and didn't move.

He waved a hand—no foul, play on.

Julien stared at him, and the anger inside him surged all at once. He didn't argue. He just turned, in silence, and walked back to his position—thinking, privately: just you wait.

Up in the Anfield stands, the fans who'd seen it all jeered, furious, calling out the referee's bias, standing up for Julien.

On the pitch, the tension only thickened.

Play carried on, and West Brom kept up the rough stuff, refusing to let go. Little by little, Liverpool stopped holding back, falling in line with what Klopp had told them—tit for tat.

Their challenges started getting harder too.

Not long after, West Brom pushed forward down the flank. The player on the ball tried to break past Liverpool's line, but Julien dropped back fast, read the moment, and went in for a clean, decisive slide tackle that won the ball outright, crisp, no wasted motion, no tangle of limbs.

He was straight back on his feet, ready to spring a quick counter. But right then, the referee's whistle went again—a foul on Julien, killing Liverpool's break dead.

Julien froze for a second, staring at the official.

He threw his hands up.

Then, without another word, he turned and walked back to his defensive position in silence.

But in his head, Julien had already made up his mind: sooner or later, he'd find his chance to pay these calls back in full.

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