Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp may have been counting themselves lucky when Thiago was not sent off for his challenge on Kevin De Bruyne, which was live on Sky Sports.
Thiago had already been booked just after the hour mark by Anthony Taylor, but that did not stop him from lunging in from behind on De Bruyne and getting nowhere near the ball moments later. However, the Spaniard managed to escape a second booking and ended up playing the entire match.
Should Thiago have been sent off?
Yes!
No!
Liverpool showed great mental toughness to come from behind twice at the Etihad Stadium against the Premier League champions and had chances themselves to potentially pick up three points that would’ve put them in the driver’s seat to win the league title.
While the result and performances from both teams have received wide praise, BT Sport pundit Chris Sutton believes that Thiago should have received a second yellow card for the tackle on De Bruyne, which doesn’t look great from the image below.
TIF Thoughts on Thiago’s challenge…
From the image above, it appears difficult to argue that Thiago shouldn’t have picked up a yellow card for such a tackle given the way he’s come from behind and trapped De Bruyne’s leg, but as some Liverpool fans may point to, Man City have had their fair share of luck from officials this season, such as the missed handball from Rodri against Everton, so it could just be things evening themselves out.
Thiago had a very influential game for Liverpool in the middle of the pitch, completing 100% of his dribbles, carrying the ball forward the most and also carrying the ball into the opposition’s final third three times, the most out of anyone in a Reds shirt (FBRef), so it would have been a huge blow to lose him during the game yesterday as well as for the next match through what would’ve been a suspension.
In other news: Big claim: Liverpool supporters won’t believe what’s been said on Sky Sports – opinion