Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher were stunned on behalf of Liverpool when a penalty was not awarded to Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard for playing with his arm.
In Saturday night’s top-of-the-table clash between Jurgen Klopp’s and Mikel Arteta’s teams, which will decide who takes the lead on Boxing Day, the referees initially prevented the Reds from getting back into the game.
After just four minutes, Gabriel Magalhaes stunned Anfield when he headed against the bar after Odegaard’s free-kick in front of the Kop.
Midway through the first half, Tender almost ensured his team’s downfall by seemingly handling the ball in the penalty area. Mohamed Salah, with his hand low over the green, hit the Norwegian directly from close range.
The referee on the pitch, Chris Kavanagh, failed to spot it, allowing the visitors to counter-attack. In the meantime, the incident was referred to VAR David Coote who, after reviewing it, decided not to pull the game back and awarded a direct kick to the Reds.
Former Manchester United defender Neville reacted to the decision in a comment to Sky Sports, describing Odegaard as “lucky”.
After initially speculating that the Arsenal captain might be in trouble, he watched the replays and added: “I think he might have just slipped up. That right leg has settled down, which means his left arm has come off. I think that saved him.
“I think he was lucky, but it could have been that his leg gave way, which means he dropped his arm to regain his balance, and that saved him.”
Later, Carragher reviewed the referee’s VAR action and fully agreed that Odegaard had taken the 11th-minute penalty.
“I think it’s a penalty, (Martin) Odegaard was very lucky there,” he said. “Maybe there was something in the slip, but I think it’s a penalty. We saw something similar last night at Aston Villa where we thought they were unlucky not to get one after a slip.”
At half-time, Sky Sports confirmed the official reasoning given by the PGMOL as to why Liverpool did not get the penalty. They explained that “it was not a clear and obvious mistake, as Odegaard’s arm moves towards his body when he falls, not towards the ball.”
By then, however, the blow was softened before the break, as Salah equalised for the hosts with a magnificent solo shot after 29 minutes to set up a decisive second period.