Ian Wright has criticised the awarding of the free kick that led to Liverpool’s crucial winning goal against Newcastle on Saturday.
Having led through Virgil van Dijk’s header, Liverpool were pegged back twice through goals from Christian Atsu and Salomon Rondon, who responded to Mo Salah’s first-time finish.
Late into the second half, however, Fabinho was awarded a free kick in front of the assistant referee, from which Xherdan Shaqiri’s cross was turned in by Divock Origi as the Reds snatched victory at St. James’ Park.
Speaking on Match of the Day 2 on Sunday night, as quoted by the Chronicle, Wright called out the assistant referee for the awarding of the free kick.
“You’ve got an assistant referee right there, I cannot believe he gave that,” the pundit said. “I’m laughing but it’s not funny because if I’m Man City I’m aggrieved by that.
“You watch Newcastle put in an unbelievable shift, you’re thinking this might be it, and then you get a free-kick like that and they score from it but that’s the way it’s going for Liverpool at the moment.”
OPINION
It was a very soft free kick earned by Fabinho. There wasn’t much contact at all and if there was, Liverpool’s Brazilian midfielder made the most of it. It cost Newcastle a point at the very least because they were pushing for a winner after Rondon’s equaliser in the second half. Rafael Benitez has continually said that his side have played well against the top six teams this season, and here is another example of a good performance that ended up being fruitless, despite the Magpies scoring two goals against the title challengers. Newcastle will feel very hard done to and rightly so. But as Wright said, that’s the way Liverpool are going currently. You need some luck to get by in a title race and here is another example of Liverpool grinding out the win with some luck. Late goals against Everton and Tottenham were not the result of poor officiating, but in this one, the Reds have got away with a poor refereeing decision.