Liverpool fans claim separate VAR incident was 'swept under carpet' against Man City

The video assistant referee looked into an incident involving Federico Chiesa during second-half stoppage time of Liverpool vs Man City, but the on-field decision was upheld

Federico Chiesa appealed for a penalty towards the end of Liverpool's loss to Manchester City(Image: 2026 Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA)

Some Liverpool fans have questioned why there was not much focus put on a late scramble in the Manchester City penalty area, which saw Federico Chiesa hit the deck and appeal for a penalty.

Sunday's game was approaching the closing stages of stoppage time, when Salah cut the ball back to Chiesa just outside the six-yard box.

City midfielder Rodri came sliding in, and Chiesa fell to the ground. The commentator on the Sky Sports broadcast in the UK confirmed at the time that the incident was being looked into by the VAR, but the incident ultimately went unpunished.

There has not been much talk about it since the game, and one Liverpool fan expressed their confusion as to why on social media.

"Is there anymore footage of this after it was swept under the carpet," they wrote. Another said: "So we’re just not gonna get a single replay of Chiesa going down in the box? Did VAR even review it with the nonsense that happened right after?"

A third said: "Did VAR even review Chiesa getting rugby tackled in the box?"

Arne Slot questioned the performance of the officials after the game – but his main gripe was that Marc Guehi was not sent off for fouling Mohamed Salah when the Egyptian was baring down on goal.

There was a VAR review on Guehi's foul but the original decision was upheld. A Premier League Match Center explanation said: "The referee’s call of a free-kick and yellow card to Guehi for the challenge on Salah was checked and confirmed by VAR – with the challenge outside of the area and deemed not to be denial of an obvious goal scoring opportunity (DOGSO) as there was a covering defender."

Slot, however, thinks City should've been reduced to 10 men. "We can talk about the decisions," Slot said. "I would like to talk about the one time Mo was through on goal and Guehi holds his shirt. Everyone who has been in this stadium in the last eight years knows if Mo is in that position it is a goal.

"So it is denial of a goalscoring opportunity." Slot continued: "When you ask me about what decision, I thought what do you mean, the disallowed goal at City, the penalty they got in the away game against us, the clear red card on Mo Salah in the second half here, or the penalty they got in the second half, or do you mean this (Dominik Szoboszlai red card) decision?

"That’s only over two games, and the ones that follow Liverpool know how many decisions I can come up with in all the other games as well, all the big decisions that could have gone in some situation to a 50-50."