Manchester City’s crucial victory over Liverpool ended in bizarre scenes at Anfield as Dominik Szoboszlai was sent off for denying a goalscoring opportunity – despite City scoring a goal from that opportunity.
Szoboszlai had earlier scored a stunning free-kick to give Liverpool the lead, before Bernardo Silva poached an equaliser and Erling Haaland converted a late penalty to give City the advantage in added time.
Rayan Cherki thought he had scored a bizarre late, late third to cap a wild game with Alisson Becker well out of his area – only for the goal to be ruled out after a VAR review, which led to Szoboszlai being sent off instead.
The Hungarian international had tussled with Haaland as Cherki’s shot rolled into an empty net, and although referee Craig Pawson was initially happy to allow the goal to stand, he later changed his decision to a free-kick and red card after consulting his pitch-side monitor.
Pawson explained to the Anfield crowd: “After review, there is a careless foul by Erling Haaland on the shirt of Dominik Szoboszlai. Prior to that, Szoboszlai commits a holding offence that denies an obvious goalscoring opportunity. The final decision is a direct free-kick to Manchester City and a red card.”
more to follow…
