The Reds thought they had been handed a route back into the quarter-final tie, but were left crestfallen by a pitchside review from the referee at Anfield
21:43, 14 Apr 2026Updated 22:00, 14 Apr 2026
Maurizio Mariani crosses his arms
Liverpool saw a late penalty overturned against PSG
Liverpool saw a second-half penalty controversially overturned against Paris Saint-Germain in its Champions League quarter-final second leg.
Alexis Mac Allister went down following contact light contact from PSG defender Willian Pacho inside the box. The Ecuadorian went to kick the ball and Mac Allister got his body in front of the ball, meaning Pacho's leg collided with the ex-Brighton man.
Referee Maurizio Mariani initially opted to award the spot-kick, but after a pitch-side review at the monitor chose to reverse that call. While the initial award felt a tad harsh, opting to overturn it was certainly not seen as in keeping with the "clear and obvious" guidelines.
That was certainly the view of ex-Premier League referee Mark Clattenberg. "We can class this as a clumsy challenge by the PSG defender," he said on Amazon Prime's live coverage of the match.
"Mac Allister gets in front, and he puts his foot there, and the defender is clusmy when he comes in from behind, and therefore there is a contact on the foot.
"They could be checking for an offside or something like that," he continued, during the VAR check. "But I don't understand why the VAR has recommended a review, when there was a contact on the foot.
"We talk about clear and obvious every time we talk about the VAR interventions. When you see the contact of Mac Allister's foot, people will say it's soft, but it's not wrong. There is a contact.
"Once the referee gives it, I expect the penalty to be upheld. If he hadn't give it, I would've expected the VAR not to interfere. But once the on-field decision was penalty kick, I would expect the penalty to be given."
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It was certainly a game-changing moment. Minutes later, Ousmane Demebele stroked in the first goal of the night to end the contest.
He cut onto his right foot at the edge of the box and casually finished beyond Giorgi Mamardashvili.
The Ballon d'Or holder doubled the score in injury-time, making it 4-0 on aggregate. He finished off a quick counter, with a first-time finish from Bradley Barcola's incisive pass across the Liverpool box.