Not the penalty claim: One first-half moment had Mac Allister fuming at the referee last night | OneFootball

Alexis Mac Allister had his name up in lights after scoring Liverpool’s winner against Real Madrid on Tuesday night, although there was one first-half moment in particular which enraged the Argentine midfielder.

The Reds were the dominant team throughout the night and could count themsleves unfortunate not to have had a commanding lead at the interval, with Thibaut Courtois pulling off a multitide of quality saves (again).

The home side were also left perplexed when a potential penalty for handball by Aurelien Tchouameni was instead given as a drop-ball to the visitors after referee Istvan Kovacs – who initially awarded a free kick on the pitch – overturned the decision after consulting with VAR pitchside (BBC Sport).

Mac Allister seen fuming at Kovacs

That wasn’t the only instance of the Romanian official incurring Liverpool’s wrath in the first half, with another moment seeing him receive an earful from Mac Allister.

As the Reds’ number 10 sprinted to try and get on the end of a promising pass, the ball was inadvertently blocked by the referee and the play duly stopped, with the midfielder unable to conceal his frustration.

Writing about that incident for the Liverpool Echo, Ian Doyle noted how it ‘was a sign of the fire having returned to the belly of the Argentina international’, who’s beginning to rediscover his best form after his start to the season was affected by lingering injury problems.

(Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

Mac Allister is getting back to his best for Liverpool

Mac Allister – who celebrated his goal with a subtle taunt towards Trent Alexander-Arnold – produced what was probably his best performance of the campaign in the win over Real Madrid.

As per Sofascore, he completed 32 of his 35 passes (91% success) and 100% of his dribbles, won four duels, landed two shots on target, and made three tackles and one interception.

With he and Ryan Gravenberch getting back to their best in the last couple of games, it’s no coincidence that Liverpool’s form has begun to improve since the midfield duo which excelled throughout last season have returned to their 2024/25 levels.

Kovacs certainly didn’t make himself popular with the Anfield faithful during the first half, and Mac Allister’s annoyance boiled over after the referee’s unwitting block, but thankfully it ultimately didn’t impede the Reds’ passage to a fully deserved victory.

Macca, Florian Wirtz, Conor Bradley, Dominik Szoboszlai…there were so many top-class performances in red to savour last night!

You can watch Slot’s full post-Real Madrid press conference via Empire of the Kop on YouTube: