Arsenal enjoyed one of the greatest campaigns in the club’s modern history during the 2025-26 season.
Mikel Arteta’s side finally ended their long wait for the Premier League title and also reached the UEFA Champions League final after an outstanding campaign.
The Gunners built much of that success on their dominance from set-pieces. Their effectiveness from corners became one of the defining features of their title-winning season.
However, Arsenal unexpectedly became part of the conversation after Germany’s dramatic exit from the World Cup.
Germany suffered a heartbreaking last-32 elimination against Paraguay after losing 4-3 on penalties.
The match finished 1-1 after extra time, but the biggest talking point came when Jonathan Tah thought he had scored what looked like the winning goal.
Instead, VAR ruled the effort out after deciding Waldemar Anton had fouled Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill while attempting to challenge for Nathaniel Brown’s corner.
According to the Daily Mail, Klopp strongly disagreed with that decision. He used Arsenal’s set-piece success to underline his frustration during his post-match analysis. The former Liverpool boss said:
“If the goal is illegal, then Arsenal won’t be English champions. They’ve scored 60 per cent of their goals that way. We win the game when the ball goes in. So, of course, this is brutal.
“There are worse things than defeats in sports. But there was only one goal, one dream, and that has been shattered. It was dramatic.
“There are 500,000 ways to win a football match. You just have to find one.”
Klopp was not the only high-profile figure to question the decision.
Alan Shearer also criticised the intervention, calling it a “terrible decision” before insisting the contact on Gill was not enough to disallow the goal.
The controversial decision ultimately proved decisive as Germany’s World Cup campaign came to an end.
But Klopp’s comments unexpectedly brought Arsenal’s title-winning set-piece record back into the spotlight.
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