It says a lot when a legendary ex-Everton player feels that Liverpool were hard done by with a refereeing decision, but that’s exactly what happened in the first few minutes in the Champions League tonight.
There were only 11 minutes in the clock when Alexis Mac Allister appeared to be fouled by RB Leipzig captain Willi Orban roughly 35 yards out from goal. However, Swiss referee Sandro Scharer saw it differently and showed the Argentine midfielder a yellow card for apparent simulation.
Pat Nevin decries Mac Allister booking
Subsequent TV replays indicated that it was a very harsh decision by the official, who’d already booked a player from the home side inside the first eight minutes, and former Everton winger Pat Nevin felt that the Reds’ number 10 was fouled.
He told BBC Radio 5 Live (20:13): “Mac Allister made the most of it, but from where we are which isn’t close – it looked like a foul. There is contact, but the referee thinks Mac Allister dives towards the player.”
Harsh on the Liverpool midfielder
It appeared to be a foul by Orban on Mac Allister when viewing in real time, and when slowed down on replays, it definitely looked like the Leipzig defender made contact with the Liverpool midfielder, who’s now been booked for the second time in this Champions League campaign.
It leaves the 25-year-old walking a disciplinary tightrope for the rest of the match (at the time of writing), and with Scharer also booking two of the home team’s players by the midway point of the first half, he’s been too willing to reach into his pocket in what hasn’t been an overly physical fixture.
By all means show yellow cards when it’s warranted, but we don’t want to see them given for minor offences, and certainly not when the recipient actually did nothing wrong, as was the case with Mac Allister in the first few minutes tonight.