Mark Clattenburg, a former Premier League referee, has acknowledged that Liverpool should have been given a late penalty during their 1-1 draw against Manchester City on Saturday.
Liverpool expressed frustration after Alexis Mac Allister fell inside the penalty area in the 98th minute. Jeremy Doku seemed to make contact with Mac Allister’s chest, with some contact on the ball, but also following through into Mac Allister as he went down holding his upper body.
Klopp queries late VAR decision, disappointed after Man City draw
Referee Michael Oliver dismissed the appeals, and VAR official Stuart Atwell did not overturn the decision, deeming it not a clear and obvious error.
Jurgen Klopp believes Liverpool were denied a clear penalty, while Mike Dean provided reasoning as to why the officiating team may have concluded it wasn’t a penalty.
Dean told Sky Sports: “I think he’s touched the ball Doku but with the follow through he’s caught him right in the chest. I think it could be a penalty. It’s a massive decision by the VAR. Tiny touch on the ball, but the follow through has caught him on the ribcage.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Stuart sent him to the screen. Check’s complete. Obviously played the ball first and the follow through same as I’m guessing a normal coming together. He’s very, very fortunate in my opinion there Doku.”
Clattenburg, recently appointed as a referees’ consultant at Nottingham Forest, has now shared his perspective. The 48-year-old strongly believes that Liverpool were unlucky not to receive a penalty and has criticized both VAR and the officials for failing to recognize the error.
In his column for the Daily Mail, Clattenburg expressed his views:
“Liverpool should have been awarded a stoppage-time penalty against Manchester City but this is the problem in the Premier League right now – referees are making mistakes in matches and not being helped by their VARs.”
He added: “Outside of the box, this would have resulted in a free-kick, every day of the week. Just because it happened inside the box does not suddenly transform it into a clean challenge when Mac Allister might be left playing connect the dots on his chest on Monday morning.
“Regardless of the magnitude of the match and the fact it happened in the 98th minute, this was an incident worthy of a penalty.”
“This is where the frustration lies – we have seen similar incidents this weekend where Stockley Park should have told their colleagues on the ground that they had missed a penalty or a red card but didn’t.”
