EPL: VAR controversy as Brighton holds Liverpool to 1-1 draw

Enitan Daramola
2 Min Read
Liverpool geld by Brighton | Reuters

Liverpool were held to a 1-1 draw by Brighton at the American Express Community Stadium on Saturday, thanks to a controversial stoppage-time penalty.

The home side were looking to pick up back-to-back league wins for the first time since November 2019 after defeating Aston Villa 2-1 in their last outing but had to settle for a point against a depleted Liverpool.

Brighton missed a chance to take the lead on the first-half when Neal Maupay wasted a golden chance from a penalty after Neco Williams had brought down Aaron Connolly in the 20th minute.

The visitors, however, took the lead on the 60th minute when Diogo Jota looked netted his eighth strike in eight Liverpool games.

With a few touches, the Portuguese star fired towards the bottom-left corner making it unstoppable for Brighton’s Ryan to stop.

The home side had another penalty call moments after as Troassard’s cross hits Fabinho’s arm but for an offside call against the Brighton substitute, the penalty would have stood.
Liverpool’s James Milner had to be forced out in the 76th minute after suffering an injury and was replaced by Jones to fill in at right-back.
Sadio Mane who replaced Mohammed Salah in the 64th minute thought he had made it 2-0 for Jurgen Klopp’s men in the 83rd minute but VAR caught the Senegalese star offside, ruling out the goal.

Liverpool looked to be strolling away with the game already in stoppage-time until Andrew Robertson appeared to to have kicked the foot of Danny Welbeck in the box.

Referee Stuart Attwell gave Brighton another spot-kick after checking the pitchside monitor to the dismay of Jurgen Klopp and Pascal Groß converted the spot kick to end the game 1-1.

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