Former FIFA referee Christina Unkel has expressed her belief that Liverpool’s Ibrahima Konate should have been shown a red card during their match against Paris Saint-Germain.
The incident in question occurred when Konate pushed PSG forward Bradley Barcola in the back during the 25th minute at Parc des Princes. Despite this, no foul was called and VAR found no clear and obvious error with the decision. This left PSG incensed, with the club’s sporting director, Luis Campos, fuming at referee Davide Massa during the half-time break.
The night took a further turn for the worse for PSG when Harvey Elliott scored in the 87th minute, securing a 1-0 victory for the Reds. Despite Arne Slot’s side being largely outplayed and reliant on Alisson Becker to prevent them from falling behind, TNT Sports pundits Ally McCoist and Rio Ferdinand both agreed that the wrong call had been made.
Their sentiment is now echoed by former referee Unkel, who was working for CBS Sports. “I’m actually not going to agree with the referee or VAR in this play itself,” she said. “I do think it should have been recommended down to a red card due to denial of a goalscoring opportunity (DOGSO).
“The contact happens here, essentially, outside the penalty area, so we’re talking about a DOGSO red card. Did the attacker have the opportunity to control the ball? The answer here is yes. It meets all of the DOGSO considerations so I would have wanted to see this as a penalty and then the VAR if not called on-field.”
(Image: LFC TV)
Post-match, Konate spoke to Canal+ about the pivotal moment. “There was a VAR check. If there was a push, like you said, I would have been shown a red card,” he insisted.
“I’m telling you that there wasn’t a foul. 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.”
Liverpool.com says: Konate would have been sent off even had it been given as a penalty because there was no genuine attempt to play the ball. The honest truth is that he was very fortunate.
Had the decision been given on the field, it is highly unlikely that the VAR would have instructed the on-field official to overturn the call. Instead, Liverpool moved into the ascendency in the tie thanks to Alisson’s heroics.
