Liverpool handed new penalty verdict as ex-referee makes Mohamed Salah claim

Mohamed Salah was back on the scoresheet for Liverpool against Brighton, although one former referee insists the Egyptian shouldn't have been given the chance to score his penalty

Mohamed Salah scored from the spot after earning Liverpool a penalty against Brighton(Image: Getty Images)

Former PGMOL chief Keith Hackett insists Liverpool shouldn’t have been awarded a penalty against Brighton, and believes Mohamed Salah should have been punished instead.

The Egyptian scored the Reds’ third and final goal from the spot during Saturday’s 3-0 win in the fourth round of the FA Cup, after Curtis Jones and Dominik Szoboszlai had set them well on their way to victory.

Salah had won the penalty himself, having been brought down by Pascal Gross after making his way into the box, brushing off a challenge from Brighton left-back Ferdi Kadioglu in the process - although Hackett has taken issue with that moment.

Although the former Premier League referee feels that Salah was fouled by Gross, he has insisted that Stuart Atwell should have given Brighton a free-kick for the winger’s tussle with Kadioglu.

“There was a push by Salah on the edge of the penalty area,” Hackett told Football Insider. “That was a foul, and that should have been penalized.

“That was missed, and then he was fouled when being held inside the penalty area, with the referee awarding a penalty kick. We should be discussing the foul of the edge of the area.

Mohamed Salah brushed off Ferdi Kadioglu's challenge as he made his way into the penalty area(Image: Getty Images)

“It was a blatant foul, and Salah should have been penalized.”

Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler would certainly back Hackett up, having been left fuming with the decision to award Liverpool a penalty.

"It is a bad decision," Hurzeler told BBC Sport. "It is just not good enough. It is difficult to speak to them [the officials]. We started the game well, controlled the ball and the game changed a little bit when they scored.

"The goal came out of nowhere. We had two big chances in the first half and we didn't use them. Liverpool were more effective.

"Second half, it was the same picture we had a big chance with Lewis [Dunk] and then a two or three minutes after they scored. That was the difference; they used their moments and we didn't.”

Liverpool.com says: Salah’s challenge on Kadioglu was perhaps treading the line between a straight push and the winger just using his strength. The Brighton player certainly didn’t seem to demonstrate much strength himself, which probably helped Attwell decide it was a fair exchange.

We might be biased, but we’re not so sure it’s as blatant as Hackett is making it out to be. In any case, it shouldn’t really be much of a talking point - Liverpool fully deserved its victory, and had the penalty not been given, you can’t imagine it would have drastically changed the outcome of the game.