Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola, left-back Milos Kerkez
Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola, left-back Milos Kerkez
Andoni Iraola called into question how Liverpool are refereed in the Premier League after Milos Kerkez was adjudged to have committed a foul after being headbutted in the face.
Liverpool looked on course to secure a handy three-goal victory at Selhurst Park on Sunday, with Alisson Becker in fine form between the sticks and the expensively-assembled forward line doing what they’re paid to do at the other end.
But deep into injury time, Alisson’s clean sheet went up in smoke when Kerkez was adjudged to have fouled Dario Osorio during an aerial duel.
Both players went up for the loose ball, with Osorio beating the Hungarian to the punch before the pair endured an inevitable head clash.
Replays showed Osorio initiated the contact with Kerkez, effectively butting him in the face. But given the incident happened in a split second and it’s inevitable one player must win an aerial duel and the other must lose it, neither set of players appealed for a foul one way or the other.
That wasn’t the way referee Tony Harrington saw the situation, however, when pointing to the spot to the bewilderment of Liverpool and Palace players alike.
Even more bizarre was the fact the decision to award a penalty was not overturned by VAR, despite Osorio being the one who initiated the contact.
The mind-boggling decision comes hot on the heels of Liverpool being denied a stonewall penalty when Jurrien Timber pulled Alexander Isak’s shirt during the 1-0 defeat to Arsenal last weekend.
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Iraola irate at Kerkez penalty call
And speaking to Sky Sports post-match, Iraola could no longer hold his tongue at the curious way in which Liverpool are refereed in both boxes.
The Spaniard raged: “I am very upset because the ones in our box they are calling penalties and in the other box they are not. I know we are 3-0 up and it’s the 95th minute but I’m very upset.
“It’s a head to head but even then it’s Osorio to Milos. It’s a clash of heads. You can say it’s 3-0 but, for me, there is more because it is not the first time this season. I’m really upset.
“The VAR took a lot of time. When you call a penalty and they take two minutes – two repetitions, three repetitions – they are finding a way not to be called by the VAR. A clean sheet is not cheap in the Premier League and we wanted to win 3-0.
“It is not just because of this penalty, it’s because of a lot of things.”
The incident was perhaps best summed up by the Liverpool Echo’s chief Reds writer, Ian Doyle.
Taking to X when live-tweeting the contest, he simply wrote: ‘Penalty for Crystal Palace as Kerkez is headed in the face by Osorio.’