- Liverpool beat Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 during their clash on Wednesday night
- Ibrahima Konate, 25, has rejected claims that he should have been sent off
- LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off! Is it harsh on Anthony Gordon that he misses the Carabao Cup final?
Ibrahima Konate has rejected claims that he should have been sent off for his challenge on Bradley Barcola during Liverpool’s 1-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain, insisting that the contact was minimal and did not warrant a penalty.
The French defender was at the center of the game’s biggest controversy in the 25th minute when Barcola broke into the Liverpool box. Konate, seemingly beaten, made contact with his international teammate, sending him to the ground.
PSG players immediately appealed for a penalty and a red card, but referee Davide Massa waved play on. A VAR review followed, but no clear and obvious error was detected, leaving PSG furious.
Sporting director Luis Campos erupted in the tunnel at halftime, confronting the officials and shouting, ‘It was a red card and a penalty!’. But Konate was unmoved by the protests when addressing the incident post-match.
Speaking to Canal Plus, Konate said: ‘There was a VAR check. If there was a push, like you said, I would have been shown a red card. I’m telling you that there wasn’t a foul.’
He went on to add: ‘It’s true that I am very strong but I don’t apply power, I just put my arm. If I had put a lot more power into it then we could talk about it… but it was soft from me.’
Ibrahima Konate has rejected claims that he should have been sent off for his challenge on Bradley Barcola during Liverpool ‘s 1-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain
The Liverpool centre back appeared to shove the PSG winger in the 25th minute
Rio Ferdinand was left baffled after the VAR decision not to show Ibrahima Konate a red card following his foul on Bradley Barcola
PSG’s anger was compounded when Liverpool snatched a late winner through substitute Harvey Elliott, putting the Premier League side in control ahead of next week’s second leg at Anfield.
Several of the pundits reporting on the game disagreed with Konate’s opinion. Rio Ferdinand was once of them. He felt the foul warranted a red card and that PSG should have been awarded a penalty.
‘That’s a foul,’ said the Manchester United icon while commenting on the TNT Sports game. ‘And that’s in his back, that’s a foul. It’s a red card. It’s that’s not a red card, I’ll be amazed. And it will be a shame if it does go down to 10 against 11 in that sense, because you want the best players playing it equally in the 90 minutes.’
Speaking at half-time on TNT Sports, Ferdinand said: ‘I can’t believe how lucky Liverpool are here. How has VAR not picked it up. He is barging between the shoulder blades on his back.’
The incident occurred just moments after Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s goal was ruled out for offside after another lengthy VAR check.
Despite being the favourites to win the tournament, Liverpool struggled to create scoring opportunities against the Ligue 1 champions but found the net late on against the run of play.
