Liverpool lost 3-2 to Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday, but the Bees’ second goal came from a controversial penalty after Virgil van Dijk fouled Dango Ouattara.
Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has claimed that Virgil van Dijk did commit a penalty against Brentford. Arne Slott’s team lost 3-2 to the Bees, their fourth consecutive league loss.
The game-changing moment occurred in the 60th minute when forward Dango Ouattara accidentally tripped Van Dijk as he exited the penalty area. It was initially ruled to be a free-kick for the west London side, but after review by the video assistant referee, a penalty was awarded as contact occurred on the box line.
Igor Thiago converted the penalty kick, giving Brentford a 3-1 lead. Mohamed Salah’s late goal narrowed the gap, and a penalty was ultimately the winning goal.
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Reviewing the incident on Sky Sports News’ Ref Watch, Mr Gallagher, himself a former senior bureaucrat, insisted the decision was the right one. However, the referee admitted that such a decision could only be made with the help of VAR.
“This is a penalty that would not have been awarded without VAR, there’s no doubt about that. Tim Robinson (referee) gave the foul, VAR saw it and the game was on the line,” he said.
“The line is owned by the goalkeeper and is part of the penalty area, because it is on the line and by default penalties are taken. Otherwise it would never be visible to the naked eye.”
Former Queens Park Rangers striker Jay Bothroyd, who was analyzing the incident alongside Gallagher, believes Ouattara was attempting to make contact and therefore award a penalty. He said, “I think that’s an example of cute play.
“I think it’s Ouattara over there. He’s moving away from the goal and Virgil gets to a point where he thinks he can get the ball. And Django kicks the ball away before he gets there.”
“It’s a cute play and a penalty according to the letter of the law. But I would look at it and say it’s soft.”
Gallagher added: “That’s the luxury you have with VAR – you can see from different angles and you can freeze the frame.
“Like I said, you would never give that to the naked eye. You would default to a free kick because it was too doubtful. You couldn’t be sure it was there.”
Slott was furious about the decision and got into an argument with a fourth official at the time. The Dutchman also referred to Liverpool’s penalty appeal, which the Reds failed to take when Cody Gakpo went down inside the Brentford penalty area. “If you say it was a soft penalty, I don’t want to say that’s an excuse, but it was a very soft penalty,” the Dutchman said.
“I don’t think the referee was thinking of giving a penalty, but then he checks and if it’s given as a foul then it’s a penalty. If we play like today, maybe that misfortune will be taken into account.”
“The key moment right before it was 2-0. There was a moment where Cody dribbled in the box and they didn’t play the ball. If you show both situations to every referee in the world, they’re probably both nothing, but if I had to award one of the two penalties, I’d give one to Cody.”
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