Liverpool captain Virgil Van Dijk, has criticized the official’s decision for refusing to send off Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Lucas Bergvall, in their 1-0 loss on Wednesday night in the first leg of the Carabao cup semifinal.
Stuart Attwell refused to send off Bergvall, who had been yellow-carded earlier in the game, for a second bookable offense, after a foul on Reds defender Kostas Tsimikas.
The 18-year old midfielder then latched on to a Dominic Solanke’s pass to score the only goal of the game, as Spurs took a 1-0 advantage into the second leg.
“I think it was quite obvious it was going to be a second yellow [for Bergvall]. It was pretty clear. And a minute later he scores the winner … a coincidence.
He [the referee] made a mistake in my opinion and I told him that. He thinks he didn’t but it was quite obvious and everyone on the sidelines knew it was supposed to be a yellow”, Van Dijk said after the match.
The Dutch captain was seen in angry exchanges with the officials after the game, his major complaint being that the goal scorer should have been sent off moments before he scored.
“There’s a linesman there, a fourth official there, there’s VAR, a referee and he doesn’t get a second yellow. I’m not saying this is the reason why we lost tonight but it was a big moment in the game.”
Arne Slot’s side suffered a first loss since the defeat to Nottingham Forest in September, and head into the second leg at Anfield next month, hoping to overturn the narrow deficit.
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