Chelsea handed fresh referee penalty verdict after Alejandro Garnacho incident against Liverpool

Chelsea should not have been awarded a penalty against Liverpool, with the right decision being made, according to former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher. The Blues came out as 2-1 winners over the Reds on Saturday, with Estevao scoring the winner in the 95th minute. Moises Caicedo had put Chelsea ahead in the first half, with Cody Gakpo equalising for Liverpool in the 63rd minute.

The winning goal caused celebrations from Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca that saw him shown a second yellow card by referee Anthony Taylor. It was an incident in the first half that saw him pick up his first yellow.

Alejandro Garnacho started his first Premier League game for the club since making his move from Manchester United in the summer. The winger went down in the box under a challenge from Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai, but referee Taylor waved away protests for a penalty.

VAR confirmed the decision, with the official Match Centre X account saying: "The referee’s call of no penalty was checked and confirmed by VAR – with the contact from Szoboszlai on Garnacho deemed to be minimal."

Maresca’s appeals and protests saw him cautioned. Speaking on Sky Sports’ Ref Watch, Gallagher has now given his verdict on the incident and on how the game was refereed as a whole.

He said: “There's a little touch, there's no doubt about that, but is the touch going to cannon Garnacho through the air like that? No.

"This game was a masterclass in refereeing. The teams were allowed to compete. He set a tolerance level that everyone fell into.

"It was a great game and the referee helped that."

Pundit Jay Bothroyd was in agreement, saying: “Garnacho was trying to buy a foul. Szoboszlai was wise to it.”

It seems that there is widespread agreement about the decision, with pundit Gary Neville saying on commentary during the game: "He had a great, great position, Anthony Taylor. He was watching it. That's not a penalty.

"He's got it absolutely spot on. There's a little bit of a tussle, but that's definitely not a penalty. In fact, at the end he throws himself to the ground.

"He's watching it. He sees exactly what happens.

"I know sometimes they get it wrong, but he (Maresca) just needs to calm down, relax. I don't know who is feeding him, telling him it's a penalty."

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