Liverpool were left furious when a blatant handball by Martin Odegaard inside the box was ignored by the referee and the VAR.
The Reds were held to a 1-1 draw against Arsenal at Anfield, with Mo Salah firing in a 29th minute equaliser after Gabriel scored the opener early in the game.
But it was yet another game marred with controversy as decisions went against the home side.
Odegaard handled the ball like a basketball as Salah tried to take the ball around him. The Liverpool players immediately appealed for handball but to everyone’s surprise referee Chris Kavanagh waved their claims and away and VAR official David Coote agreed with his decision as well.
"I'm amazed that one wasn't given" ?
Jamie Redknapp & Theo Walcott discuss Liverpool's potential penalty against Arsenal. pic.twitter.com/QgjTVLKSWn
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 23, 2023
Arsenal man of the match William Saliba admitted in his post-match interview that it was a handball.
“Klopp was left baffled by the decision and expressed in his post-game interview: ‘How can someone in an office see that and not consider that perhaps the referee should take another look?'”
And now, fans on social media have called out the alleged ‘corruption’ following footage showing the match official engaged in a rather unusual interaction with Mikel Arteta as he approached to shake his hand post-game.
Watch the clip below:
Very strange behaviour this.
Corruption is occurring once again.
pic.twitter.com/nl8JMG1JRu— ????? (@LFC_Lucas_) December 23, 2023
Liverpool have been a victim of poor officiating this season, having lost 9 points from referee errors so far. This includes the Luis Diaz goal controversy against Spurs, and handball incidents against Chelsea and Manchester United as well.
When VAR was introduced we thought officiation would improve because we had the view of subjectivity on the part of referees but VAR personnel are reluctant to use the VAR.especially when incident will disadvantage their favourite clubs. And the reason for Arteta to say ” fair “. emanated from knowing his.club has benefited unceremoniously. Remover whenever Arteta draws or loses he complains about embarrassing officiation but in the match.between his club and.LFC he never complain.If VAR is abused fair play is compromised.
What a complete steaming pile of bullish!t. The “writer” doesn’t know the handball laws and claimed that Saliba admitted it was a handball. Neither is factual nor true, and the handball law states that if someone is falling and has their hand low and connects that it is understandable in that context of the law:
“ However, there is one major exception.
The rule does make a specific exception
for handball occurrences committed as
long as a player’s body position is
“consequence of, or justifiable by, the
player’s body movement for that specific
situation.” Then a handball is not whistled.
This exception largely comes into play for
a defensive player sliding to make a block.
It is generally considered impossible to
make a sliding movement without using
an arm on the ground for support. Thus,
the use of an arm for support while sliding
is a “justifiable” action for that particular
body movement, and therefore a ball
which strikes a support arm would not be
considered an “unnatural” position even if
extended from the body.”
Somebody needs to explain this to the moron who wrote this absurd piece, Medhi Gohkal. Liverpool never had 9 points this year “stolen” from them. The worst article I’ve read in a looooong time.