Liverpool complain to PGMOL over two controversial decisions in Aston Villa draw

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Liverpool complain to PGMOL over two controversial decisions in Aston Villa draw

Liverpool have asked PGMOL, the body that oversees Premier League refereeing, for an explanation of two decisions that went against during the costly weekend draw with Aston Villa.

The Reds ended up drawing the game 1-1 thanks to a late Roberto Firmino equaliser, with the result allowing fourth place Manchester United to pull clear of them in the pursuit of a top four finish and Champions League qualification.

Jurgen Klopp has since conceded defeat and is already focusing on playing in the Europa League.

But Liverpool still want answers over two controversial decisions from the Villa game.

One saw a potential Cody Gakpo equaliser that was ruled out when Virgil van Dijk was deemed to be offside. Van Dijk had been beyond the last line of defence when Luis Diaz attempted to head back across goal, but the ball rebounded to him off Villa centre-back Ezri Konsa.

A player cannot be offside when a defender deliberately makes an attempt to play the ball. But referee John Brooks was advised by the VAR official to consult the pitch-side monitor and ruled the goal out, having decided that Konsa's contact on the ball to send it to Van Dijk was accidental.

The other incident was Brooks' decision to only show Tyrone Mings a yellow card was a reckless chest-high challenge on Gakpo that left the Liverpool forward with a torn shirt and immediately visible cuts and grazes across his body. A VAR review was carried out but the yellow wasn’t upgraded.

Klopp, who was banned from the touchline at Anfield due to a punishment from previous comments about referee Paul Tierney, said afterwards it was impossible for Gakpo to have suffered those kind of injuries without being the victim of a 'proper foul'.