Alexis Mac Allister fell to the floor in the area following a challenge from Willian Pacho, but it was ultimately ruled that there was no foul. Coach Maurizio Mariani pointed out the spot immediately after the Argentine player collapsed, but was told by VAR to review the incident again.
“Every time we talk about VAR intervention, we talk about clear and obvious John, but when you look at Mac Allister’s foot contact… and people say it’s soft, there’s no wrong with that, there is contact,” Clattenburg said on commentary.
“If the referee awarded a penalty, I would expect the penalty to be awarded. If the referee had not awarded it, I would accept that VAR would not intervene, but if the decision on the field was a penalty, I would expect that penalty to be awarded.”
Former Newcastle striker and Amazon Prime pundit Alan Shearer was surprised to see the decision overturned as he believed midfielder Mac Allister had been well positioned to earn a foul inside the area.
“Mac Allister is also surprising me because he does a really good job of trying to protect the ball while inviting challenges from Pacho,” he said. “And I’m really, really surprised that once he tried to get the ball and didn’t get it and he actually made contact and the referee gave it to him, he overturned it.”
Not everyone shared that sense of wonder. Former Liverpool full-back Stephen Warnock thought Mac Allister’s fall was uncool.
“I didn’t think it was a penalty,” he told the BBC. “Alexis Mac Allister went down awkwardly and the two players just linked up. Liverpool have to get back to their tempo of play.”
Despite Liverpool’s dominance throughout the second half, they were unable to regain the two-goal difference inherited from the first leg. In the end, it was PSG who found the net.
Ousmane Dembele scored in the 72nd minute to extend the visitors’ advantage on aggregate. The Frenchman then scored another goal in stoppage time, capitalizing on a sharp pass from Bradley Barcola to seal their place in the Champions League semi-finals.
Warnock insists PSG were simply operating at a higher level than their Premier League opponents. “Liverpool threw everything at Paris Saint-Germain,” he said.
“Yes, PSG have ridden their luck sometimes, but this is the level that every European team wants to reach. This team is on a different level. They are great.”
