Why no penalty for Doku's challenge on Mac Allister? Ex-referee answers

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Why no penalty for Doku's challenge on Mac Allister? Ex-referee answers

In the dying seconds of the Liverpool v Man City game, referee Michael Oliver decided against awarding the Reds a penalty for Jeremy Doku catching Alexis Mac Allister's chest with his studs showing.

VAR Stuart Atwell did not tell Oliver to go to the monitor and, within a few seconds, the game was over. It ended in a 1-1 draw which could be massive for the title race.

Former referee Dermot Gallagher (no relation to famous Liverpool hater Liam Gallagher) said on Sky Sports about the incident: "From my point of view, it's easy to give the penalty. If you give it, there won't be much talk about it.

"Doku gets the ball, there's no doubt about that - the argument is, does getting the ball negate a penalty? Well, we saw at Bournemouth [recently], no.

"VAR is sure Doku gets the ball, he's right, so he decides to go with the on-field decision of no penalty.

"It raises lots of dilemmas, I think there would be less argument if it was given as a penalty. I'm surprised there is a wide split. It's a big, big call. He made the decision based on what he saw."

AuthorAleksei BlokhinSourceSky Sports
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