1 week ago
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Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has asserted that Virgil van Dijk did indeed commit a penalty offence in Liverpool's loss to Brentford, with Michael Carrick also offering his opinion.
Arne Slot's players endured their fourth consecutive league defeat with a 3-2 loss away to the Bees. The pivotal moment occurred in the 60th minute, when Van Dijk inadvertently tripped Dango Ouattara as the forward was exiting the penalty area.
Initially, a free-kick was awarded to the London side, but following a VAR review, it was determined that the contact was made on the line of the box, thus resulting in a penalty. Igor Thiago successfully converted the penalty, putting Brentford 3-1 up.
Mohamed Salah's late goal, which reduced the deficit, meant the contentious penalty ultimately decided the match.
While revisiting the incident on Sky Sports ref watch, Gallagher, himself a former top-tier official, maintained that the decision was correct. However, he did concede that such a call could only be made with the aid of VAR.
He said: "It's a penalty which would only be given with VAR, there's no doubt about that. Tim Robinson gives a foul. VAR looks at it and it's on the line. The line is owned by the goalkeeper and it's part of the penalty area, because it's on the line and it defaults to a penalty. Without that, you would never see that with the naked eye."
Former Queens Park Rangers forward Jay Bothroyd, who was analyzing the incident alongside Gallagher, is of the opinion that Ouattara was attempting to initiate contact and thus a penalty was warranted. He stated: "I think that's an example of cute play.
"I think that is Ouattara there, he is going away from goal and Virgil gets to a point where he thinks he can win the ball. Django then toes the ball away before he can get there. It's cute play and by the letter of the law, it is a penalty, but I would look at that and say it is soft."
Gallagher chimed in: "That's the luxury VAR has got. You can look from different angles, you can freeze frame.
"As I said, you would never give that with the naked eye, because you would be in so much doubt, you would default to free kick. You could not be certain it was in there."
Slot was livid with the decision and was spotted disputing with the fourth official at the time.
Referring also to a Liverpool penalty appeal that was dismissed when Cody Gakpo was brought down in the Brentford penalty area, the Dutchman expressed: "If I say it was a soft penalty, I hope you don't say it's an excuse, but it was a very soft penalty.
"I don't think the referee was thinking to give the penalty but then they checked it and if it's given as a foul then it's a penalty. That bad luck maybe counts if you play a game like we did today.
"It's a crucial moment just before the 2-0, there was a moment where Cody dribbled inside the box and they didn't play the ball. I think if you show both situations to every referee in the world, maybe both are nothing but if I had to give one of the two penalties I'd give the one to Cody."
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