Jamie Carragher was left puzzled by the coin toss ahead of Liverpool’s heartbreaking Champions League exit against Paris Saint-Germain.
The Reds held a 1-0 lead ahead of the last 16 second leg at Anfield thanks to Harvey Elliott’s dramatic winner in Paris last week. But the home side knew the tie was far from over after the problems Luis Enrique’s men caused in the first game.
Ousmane Dembele leveled the scores on aggregate early on at Anfield and both sides had chances to win the game in normal time, but for some more inspired goalkeeping from Alisson Becker and counterpart Gianluigi Donnarumma.
But it was the PSG stopper who emerged as the hero as he made two saves in the shootout. Donnarumma first denied Darwin Nunez before repeating the feat against Curtis Jones to send the French champions through.
There were huge cheers before the shootout from the away supporters after it was determined the penalties would be taken at the Anfield Road End, rather than the Kop. PSG also took the first penalty, meaning it already had an advantage.
Ex-Reds defender Carragher had watched the game among Liverpool fans inside Anfield and questioned the coin toss when speaking to CBS Sports Golazo. He said: “One thing I couldn’t work out with the penalties was that, obviously, it was a toss up of Virgil van Dijk, so PSG must have won the toss to take it to the other end but also took the first penalty.
(Image: Getty)
“So I wasn’t quite sure what had happened there in terms of the toss – normally, you get one advantage, and then the other team maybe goes first penalty. But they deserved to go through.”
UEFA rules state that the referee firstly tosses a coin to decide which goal to use, and then tosses the coin again to determine who takes first or second. That decision is made by the captain of the team that wins the toss.
After the devastating defeat, CBS anchor Kate Abdo said to Carragher from the studio: “None of us know what to say”. The Liverpool legend was unsurprisingly gutted by the exit, responding: “Well, I mean, I’m pretty much the same at the moment.
“I am really a bit deflated, but listen, the best team won. PSG, we’ve seen how it performed in the first leg, I called it a robbery to make it 1-0.”
