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Football

04th Feb 2018

Gary Neville’s commentary sparks outrage as Liverpool fans fume over late penalty call

It seems the Liverpool supporters didn't agree with Gary Neville on this...

Matthew Gault

We hope Gaz isn’t going to check his mentions.

If you’re a Liverpool fan, at least you can take solace that your life following football is infinitely more exciting and drama-filled than pretty much anyone else.

At Anfield on Sunday afternoon, we officially reached peak Liverpool. There was the usual mix of brilliance and calamity, with some questionable refereeing, unfortunately, taking centre stage. While Liverpool fans will doubtless want to remember this game for Mohamed Salah’s brilliance, it will forever be tainted by two controversial penalty calls.

The first one turned out to be immaterial. Harry Kane went down under the challenge of Loris Karius and was given the decision. It looked soft. There was contact, yes, but it looked soft. Kane also appeared to be offside as the ball was played to him. However, much to everyone’s surprise, his effort from 12 yards was woeful, hit straight at a relieved Karius who punched it away.

But then things really took a turn. Moments later, Salah sent the Kop into utter bedlam after a brilliant solo effort which culminated in the Egyptian lifting the ball high into the Spurs net and wheeling away in jubilation.

Of course, it was short-lived. In the 95th-minute, Virgil van Dijk swung a leg in the direction of Erik Lamela. The Dutch defender clearly pulled his leg away but the Argentine went down in a heap anyway. Despite initially waving play on, referee Jon Moss called it back after catching his linesman’s flag waving for a penalty. After a brief consultation, the penalty was given. Kane stepped up and made no mistake the second time, rifling a venomous effort into the bottom corner.

As Liverpool fans fumed at the injustice that snatched away three precious points, Gary Neville said the van Dijk-Lamela incident was a clear penalty.

As you can imagine, Twitter blew up with Neville hate.