The 2-2 Liverpool-Tottenham Hotspur draw at Anfield yesterday was truly one for the ages. The exciting match with massive top four implications had numerous plot twists and turns, and plenty of questionable calls. There were calls that went against the interests of both sides in this one.
After the emotional match, there was plenty of controversial and contentious conversation during media interviews as well. Reds Manager Jurgen Klopp hit out at the officials very blatantly. Spurs midfielder Dele Alli became a major punchline on social media after he was booked for diving. Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk accused Tottenham striker Harry Kane of diving.
“I think it is a dive. You see him diving clearly, Van Dijk said of the play that netted Kane’s first penalty kick, which was missed.
Video footage showed that Harry Kane was actually offsides (the referee missed it) on the sequence that set up the penalty kick too.
Van Dijk also accused Spurs winger Erik Lamela of diving on the pivotal play that set up the second Kane spot kick, which he then converted. Said the recently acquired Reds defender: “I saw him coming in the end and I tried to hold my leg in, he just pulled his body in front of the ball and he goes down. That is also clearly not a penalty.”
That play set up the PK conversion which equalized the game, and meant the result was a draw instead of a win for Liverpool. It meant a difference of 2 points for LFC, and thus many Liverpool fans are calling for punitive action to be taken against Lamela today. “Dive” is the third most popular auto-complete when you search Erik Lamela today.
“He definitely caught me because it hurt afterwards,” Lamela responded to VVD’s claims. “Maybe he meant to play the ball and not catch me; I’d need to see it again on TV.
Harry Kane maintains that he did not flop.
Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius admitted possible contact with Kane on the first incident and when asked about it, the Tottenham centre forward told the media:
“Yeah. He dived, he got in the way and I’m a player. It’s football so I’m not going to jump out of the way. I definitely felt contact and I went down. With Lamela’s, the linesman showed amazing character to give it because a lot happened involving him before the first penalty, so to give that one was massive.”
Kane scored his 100th career Premier League goal yesterday, becoming the second fastest to do so in history. He’s currently in the midst of an exciting Golden Boot Award race with a man on the opposing team yesterday, Mo Salah.
Salah had a goal of the year nominee in this game, as did Victor Wanyama.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune corporation blogging community Chicago Now.
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