The ending of Liverpool’s loss to Man City was hectic, and Dominik Szoboszlai got the short end of the stick.
With Alisson committed forward, the Hungarian was the last line of defence as the ball rolled towards the Liverpool goal, with Erling Haaland getting the better of him in a footrace.
Szoboszlai pulled him back, but then the City striker repaid the favour, and the ball ended up in the back of the net anyway.
The referee went back to VAR and overturned the goal, sending off the stand-in right-back.
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Liverpool v Manchester City - Premier League
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Even explaining it, it makes little sense. Luckily for Szoboszlai, he won’t be come down on with the full force of the law.
No violent conduct in Dominik Szoboszlai red card
With Liverpool’s current struggles at right-back, losing Szoboszlai is a hammer blow.
But it won’t be for long.
Dominik Szoboszlai during Liverpool v Manchester City - Premier League
Photo by Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
Considering the low severity of the foul and the lack of malice, Szoboszlai will receive a one-match ban for denial of a goalscoring opportunity, rather than three games.
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That means he will be unavailable for Liverpool’s trip to Sunderland during the week, but will be back to face Brighton at the weekend.
It shouldn’t cancel out his heroics, which got us a foothold in the game to begin with.
Erling Haaland reacts to the incident with Szoboszlai
After an extremely quiet game, Haaland was on target with the decisive penalty at the start of stoppage time, cancelling out Szoboszlai’s magic.
Then, in the final moments it was he who was entangled with Szoboszlai, his former RB Salzburg teammate, which led to his sending off.
When asked by Sky Sports after the game, Haaland assumed it was the worst-case scenario with regards to the suspension. So he said: “I feel bad for him because he’ll get three games. Just give the goal, simple as that.”
Really disappointing result at Anfield. What went wrong?
Bernardo Silva celebrates after scoring for Manchester City against Liverpool in the Premier League at Anfield (Credit: Getty Photo Credit: Getty Images
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Whether or not you think the goal should have been given, the way it was handled by VAR was just baffling.
Whatever the case, at least Slot only has to go without his most in-form player for the one game.
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