4 hours ago
19
Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg believes the referee had a “simple decision” to award Galatasaray a penalty against Liverpool.
The Reds are in Istanbul for their second Champions League game against the Turkish champions, and aiming to bounce back following their first defeat of the season at Crystal Palace on Saturday. They will have to do it the hard way once again though after falling behind early.
Moments after Hugo Ekitike and Cody Gakpo were denied at the other end, Galatasaray broke quickly and were awarded a penalty when Baris Alper Yilmaz went down while being challenged by Dominik Szoboszlai.
Replays showed the Liverpool midfielder’s trailing right arm brush against Yilmaz, with the winger going down holding his face. Referee Clement Turpin promptly pointed to the spot, despite Liverpool’s protestations, with no VAR intervention able to save the visitors.
Victor Osimhen stepped up to take the penalty, and sent his effort down the middle as Alisson Becker dived to his right, giving Galatasaray the lead.
Giving his opinion on the penalty, former Newcastle and England striker Alan Shearer commented while on Amazon Prime Video: “It's just that trailing arm, isn't it? That right arm that catches him and invites him to go down. The referee's got a really, really good view of it.”
Clattenburg added: “I think I agree with Alan. As he goes in to challenge him, his trailing arm catches him in the face, therefore it's a simple decision for a well-positioned referee.”
Liverpool will once again have to come from behind this season if it is to claim anything from its travels to Turkey, which could mean Mohamed Salah playing a big part.
This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more
The Egyptian was a surprise omission from Arne Slot’s side as he dropped to the bench in Istanbul, with Jeremie Frimpong instead lining up on the right wing.
“We have many games to play in a few days, there's another big game to play coming up,” Slot explained. “We have to utilize our squad, and utilizing doesn't always mean from the start, players can come in as well.
“Many of our games, players have impacted the game coming from the bench.”
English (US) ·