LIVERPOOL -- Jurgen Klopp has said Liverpool were "lucky" to not have Simon Mignolet sent off during their 3-0 midweek win at Stoke City.
Goalkeeper Mignolet was only shown a yellow card for fouling Mame Biram Diouf on the edge of the penalty area with Liverpool 1-0 up.
In the aftermath of his side's win, Klopp said he felt referee Martin Atkinson had correctly applied the rules.
But after reviewing the footage, he admitted on Friday that Liverpool had been fortunate to end the game with 11 players on the pitch.
"First of all, I think was the first time in the season that we were lucky in this situation, to be 100 percent honest," he told a news conference.
"I have to admit that we were lucky.
"When I gave the interviews after the game I was 100 percent sure it was the right decision because I thought Joe Gomez was in a covering position.
"I didn't realise, from my point of view, that it was pretty much 100 percent a goal after that [the foul]. It wouldn't have been a penalty -- it was outside the box.
"But yes, if there's a red card for Simon Mignolet then we cannot argue."
Stoke boss Mark Hughes said he felt Atkinson should not be officiating this weekend following the error.
"I understand that he's not happy about this decision, 100 percent," Klopp said, but added: "I don't think refs need to be more punished than they are already.
"In this situation after the game, everybody is talking about them all the time. The best thing after a game is that nobody is speaking about the referee. That doesn't happen too often.
"I know we are all emotionally involved in the game. You want fair decisions, but it's always a point of view.
"The refs decide like they do and it was very often for us in this season that it was not for our fortune.
"I respect and like Mark a lot, so I can imagine that he thinks it was a very decisive moment in the game. That's how it is."
Meanwhile, Klopp said Joel Matip is likely to miss the trip to Brighton on Saturday with a muscular injury.
Liverpool have no other fresh injury concerns but will monitor the fitness of Adam Lallana (thigh) and Ragnar Klavan (illness).
The Liverpool manager said: "It looks like Joel Matip is out. After the game he had a problem, he felt something muscle-wise.
"We have to make the final assessment but it doesn't look like he is available for tomorrow. That's pretty much all.
"Adam Lallana is still building up his fitness. Ragnar Klavan was ill but hopefully he is not any more, especially when you think about Joel Matip's situation.
"It's not that we have a big choice to make in defence, so that's the situation.
"We had a few knocks how it is after a game, and it is the shorter part of the week with Wednesday and Saturday [games].
"It's not a long time to recover from different things. Final decisions will be made after the session at 3 p.m. [on Friday]."