Alisson Becker believes Liverpool’s match against Tottenham Hotspur could have been “completely different” if the Red Devils had not been wrongly placed due to some unfair refereeing decisions.
Liverpool lost 2-1 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after Joel Matip’s own goal, but the referee’s decisions regarding red cards for Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota as well as Luis Diaz’s disallowed goal made headlines. This was closely monitored after the match.
Speaking to ESPN, Alisson claimed that Liverpool were “outraged” by decisions that went against him, admitting he felt like a “prisoner” for not criticizing the referee. He said (quote via Liverpool Echo):
“My stance is very clear, everyone has seen it. I don’t like talking about referees and we can’t talk about referees either. Sometimes we feel like we are prisoners. When he opened his mouth, he was punished on all sides.
“We are human beings and we should be outraged by this. Yes, that’s how the fans feel. How we feel too. One mistake cost us the match.” Today cannot be completely different. Now we have to take care of this.
“We will resolve this issue internally. I hope these things will stop happening internally as well. I always say that VAR is good, precisely for these unfair situations. It’s amazing that these things keep happening over something so simple, so objective. And the technology is there. Why don’t you use the technology FIFA used in the World Cup?
The sending off of Jones after consulting VAR for a foul on Yves Bissouma and Diaz’s disallowed goal – which was recognized by the PGMOL as a bad decision – were two decisions made against Liverpool in the first half. When asked about the incidents, Alisson called on experts and journalists to speak out as he lamented refereeing standards in the country.
He said: ”We saw it, yes, at halftime, but not with the intention of seeing the failure of the refereeing, but with the attitude of seeing what we did right in the game, which was a great move of ours, worked towards what we could play it in the second half and we have no line at all.
“We came back to play the second half and, unfortunately, there was another expulsion, which is also worth mentioning. This game has a lot of topics regarding refereeing, I think it’s up to you to talk a lot. You have to talk, because this kind of thing is very frustrating. Very frustrating.”
