‘Obvious error’ – What ex-PGMOL chief said about two big decisions in Liverpool defeat to PSG | OneFootball

Former PGMOL chief executive Keith Hackett felt that Liverpool got away with one big refereeing decision in their 2-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday night.

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Ibrahima Konate was involved in two penalty incidents in the second half, the first of which saw a spot kick initially given against him in the 70th minute for a challenge on Warren Zaire-Emery, before the decision was rightly overtuned following a VAR review as he won the ball.

Then, in stoppage time, the Reds defender appeared to nudge Nuno Mendes inside the box as the PSG left-back bore down on goal, but referee Jose Maria Sanchez Martinez didn’t see any reason to blow for a foul.

What did Hackett say about the two penalty decisions?

Hackett praised the VAR intervention on the first incident but felt that the Liverpool centre-back was fortunate not to have had a penalty given against him over the latter instance.

The former top-flight official told Football Insider: “This was a push by Konate [on Mendes] that should have resulted in the award of a penalty kick.

“The subtle push impacted on the forward [sic], who lost balance and went to ground. VAR should have intervened to enable the referee to have a second [view of the] incident.”

On the early penalty which was overturned, Hackett said: “[This was] a very good intervention by VAR to see that the referee, in awarding a penalty kick, had made a clear and obvious error. The decision was reviewed and correctly overturned.”

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Liverpool may have had other grievances despite dodging potential penalty

The overturning of the initial penalty award in the 70th minute was the correct call, with replays showing that Konate won the ball cleanly from Zaire-Emery with what Ally McCoist called a ‘brilliant challenge’, and that’s one instance which shows how VAR can work well when implemented properly.

As for the apparent push on Mendes in added time, we’d admit that the Liverpool defender took an unnecessary risk in that instance and could easily have had a spot kick given against him, so perhaps the Reds did get away with that one.

However, Arne Slot may well have legitimate gripes with Sanchez for penalising Joe Gomez with a yellow card despite making a brilliantly-timed tackle on Desire Doue, a decision which looked even worse after Khvicha Kvaratskhelia had earlier escaped sanction for a blatant shirt pull on Konate.

Both teams may have grievances over some of the refereeing last night, but what nobody could dispute is that PSG were by far the better team and could easily have won by a much greater margin, were it not for some poor finishing on their part and some excellent saves by Giorgi Mamardashvili.

In the end, Liverpool can be grateful to come away with a 2-0 defeat, which McCoist believes still gives them a chance of pulling off another famous European comeback at Anfield next week.