Ibrahima Konate found himself at the centre of a contentious incident in Liverpool’s 1-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday night.
With the deadlock yet to be broken in the first half and PSG dominant against the Reds, the 25-year-old barged Bradley Barcola just outside the penalty area as the forward was running through on goal, with the home fans and players screaming for a red card for denying a goalscoring opportunity (DOGSO).
The contact was referred to the VAR for a potential sending-off, but our number 5 was cleared to play on for the remainder of the match.
Collymore claims Konate was ‘lucky’ to avoid a red card v PSG
In his latest column for CaughtOffside, Stan Collymore felt that Konate may have been fortunate to escape a dismissal, but also claimed that French media may have driven an ‘agenda’ towards trying to pour petrol on the flames over the incident.
The former Liverpool striker wrote: “I think Konate was lucky not to be sent off. For me, it is a red card, but there were 10 other incidents during the match that you can say that about, and then you’re dealing with hypotheticals.
“The reality is that on the pitch, the referee decided that it was not a red card. On this incident, I think there has been a bit of an agenda behind it, and it has primarily been driven by the French media.”
Ibrahima Konate survived a potential red card check in Liverpool's win over PSG
(Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
Was Konate fortunate not to have been sent off?
We can see why PSG were calling for a red card in that moment, as Konate definitely seemed to push Barcola, who could’ve gotten a shot off had he not been impeded.
Former FIFA referee.Christina Unkel claimed that the officials didn’t make the right decision, although the Liverpool defender insisted after the match that any contact was ‘soft’ and wouldn’t have merited a dismissal.
When looking back on the passage of play just before that coming together, it appears that the PSG forward might’ve been fractionally offside when the ball was played in his direction, so even if those on VAR felt that there was a case of DOGSO, the semi-automated technology might’ve spared our number 5 from an early bath.
In any event, the home side had more than enough chances to have won the game comfortably, but a colossal performance from Alisson and a neat finish from Harvey Elliott ensured that it’s advantage LFC for the second leg.
Hopefully the Reds can finish the job at Anfield without being dominated to the extent that they were in Paris, and without any controversial incidents diluting the satisfaction of progress to the quarter-finals (should it be achieved).