Liverpool get new referee verdict after triple blow following 'clear reckless challenge'
Liverpool trail in their Carabao Cup semi-final against Tottenham after the Lilywhites earned victory in controversial circumstances thanks to Lucas Bergvall's goal in the tie's first leg
by Scott Trotter · The MirrorLiverpool had every right to be left fuming following Lucas Bergvall's goal against them in their Carabao Cup semi-final, according to former Premier League referee Keith Hackett.
Tottenham claimed a 1-0 win in controversial fashion on Wednesday evening thanks to the 18-year-old's 86th-minute effort. The young Swede rubbed salt into Liverpool wounds when he found the net moments after escaping a second yellow card for a poor challenge on Kostas Tsimikas.
Referee Stuart Attwell did not even judge the tackle to be a foul to leave the Reds perplexed after Bergvall found the net. Arne Slot's assistant Sipke Hulshoff was booked following his protests and Reds captain Virgil van Dijk aired his annoyance at full time of the first leg.
Hackett believes Slot's side can count themselves unlucky. The former official suggested the visitors to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium were unfortunate to not see a foul awarded and Lucas Bergvall sent-off but also that the conditions ensured Tsimikas was not allowed back on the pitch to play a role preventing the goal.
"It was a clear reckless challenge and one that the referee, Stuart Attwell, had a clear view of," Hackett told the Telegraph. "If he required help, you have to ask where was the raised flag from the assistant referee, who was in close proximity to the incident?
"To make matters worse for Liverpool, Attwell did not even judge the challenger to be a foul, waving play on much to my surprise. That means the player who was on the receiving end of Bergvall’s tackle, Konstantinos Tsimikas, had to leave the pitch as the rules state a player who requires medical treatment not caused by a foul must leave the field of play and wait for the referee to wave them back on.
"Tsimikas did just that, but did not wave him back onto the field as Tottenham attacked, and Dominic Solanke’s run that led to the goal assist came in the area of the pitch where you would expect Tsimikas to be defending. That is a double bitter pill to swallow, and Liverpool have every right to be aggrieved."
That Tsimikas was not permitted to enter the field was of particular frustration to Slot. The Dutchman believes such actions offer an unnecessary double blow.
"That is in general a rule that I don’t like – not only today, it happened throughout the whole season," he said. "If a player is injured or maybe gets a hard tackle, it’s not always necessary to give a yellow. Maybe this time, he did. But not always.
"But if a player than gets treatment, then he has to go out [of the pitch] for 30 or 45 seconds. I don’t really understand why this is always necessary. But, OK, it’s a rule so I accept it. But then conceding it and the player scoring it who should maybe have had a second yellow card, not only for us, not ideal. I think – I don’t know – but the referee was thinking ‘Uh, is this really happening? Is he scoring the goal?’
"But he couldn’t change it and he didn’t have to speak to the whole stadium about why he made the decision because it wasn’t a VAR decision.”
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