Ibrahima Konate fumes 'clear penalty' cost Liverpool game against PSG

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Liverpool's Champions League quarter-final second leg tie swung on a controversial referee call, after Alexis Mac Allister was felled in the box by PSG's Willian Pacho

Ibrahima Konate felt Liverpool should have been awarded a "clear penalty" against PSG.

Ibrahima Konate felt Liverpool was denied a “clear penalty” in its Champions League quarter-final second leg defeat against Paris Saint-Germain.

Alexis Mac Allister went down in the box following admittedly light contact from PSG defender Willian Pacho, resulting in referee Maurizio Mariani pointing to the spot.

But after being encouraged to review the footage on the pitchside monitor, Mariani reversed the decision, and the penalty was overturned. Liverpool players were furious and ex-Premier League official Mark Clattenburg claimed it was not a “clear and obvious” error from the referee. All the Amazon Prime pundits also agreed that the decision was a mistake.

It proved particularly costly with the score tied 0-0 at the time, and just minutes later, Ousmane Dembele netted the first of his two late goals to hand PSG a 2-0 victory on the night.

Konate was perplexed by the referee’s intervention and could not believe he chose to reverse the penalty call.

“For me, it was a clear penalty. I was just behind the referee at the VAR, but he didn’t say it was a penalty,” he told Amazon Prime.

“We have to deal with that and I think at this moment, if we get a penalty and score, it is completely different.”

Maurizio Mariani opted to overturn the decision after Liverpool's penalty decision

A bad night was compounded by what appeared to be a serious injury to Hugo Ekitike, who was replaced midway through the first period on a stretcher.

Konate, his international colleague, hopes there are no long-term ramifications for the Liverpool striker.

“I am very said for him and I hope he will come back,” said the center-back. “I think it’s bad. I don’t know.

“I have no words to talk about that. With the World Cup and all of the things coming this summer, it is very hard for him and I send him my prayers and everything.”

Hugo Ekitike appeared to suffer a serious injury in Liverpool's Champions League tie against PSG

On Liverpool’s performance in the 2-0 defeat, Konate added: “We knew at Anfield, we can maybe do something special.

“Today, we created many chances and I think on the pitch we were the better team today. That’s why it is a little bit unfair.

“It’s like last season; when we play at home we create many chances and had so many opportunities to score. On the other hand, they had maybe one or two clear chances and they score. This is football. It’s sad.”