Salah - who had seen a second effort ruled out for offside - thought he would get the chance to step up again shortly before the hour mark to set the seal on what could have been a very comfortable victory for Liverpool, with referee Simon Hooper pointing to the spot again after Emmanuel Agbadou’s sliding challenge on Diogo Jota inside the box.
Liverpool boss Arne Slot has already been in hot water for protesting refereeing decisions this week, with the Dutchman and his assistant Sipke Hulshoff accounting for two of the four total red cards dished out by Michael Oliver in chaotic scenes that followed Wednesday night’s dramatic 2-2 Merseyside derby draw with Everton at Goodison Park.
Explaining that U-turn, the Premier League Match Centre said in a statement: “VAR checked the referee’s call of penalty to Liverpool for a challenge by Agbadou on Jota and deemed any contact was not initiated by Agbadou, therefore recommended an on-field review.
However, the decision was reviewed by VAR John Brooks and Hooper later reversed his call after being sent to consult the pitchside monitor as replays showed that it was Jota who appeared to have initiated the contact with Agbadou, who was taken off injured shortly afterwards.
On that occasion, Slot felt that James Tarkowski’s thunderous 98th-minute equaliser should have been ruled out for a push by Beto on Ibrahima Konate inside the box, while he also appeared to dispute how much extra stoppage time had been played after a collision between Everton defenders Jarrad Branthwaite and Carlos Alcaraz.
