Both Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher were left baffled on Liverpool's behalf after a penalty was not given against Arsenal's Martin Odegaard for handball.
Midway through the first half the provider almost presented his team with their downfall, seemingly handling the ball in the penalty area. With his hand low above the turf
Referee Chris Kavanagh did not spot it, which allowed the visitors to counter attack. While that took place the incident was referred to VAR David Coote, who upon review chose not to pull play back and award a Reds spot kick.
Reacting on commentary duty for Sky Sports, the decision even had former Manchester United defender Neville in Liverpool's corner, calling Odegaard "lucky".
After initially speculating the Arsenal captain could be in trouble, he saw the replays and Neville added:
"I think he may just slip there. That right leg is giving way which means his left arm goes down. I think that’s what saves him.
"I think he’s lucky but it might be that his foot gives way which means he puts his arm down to try and rebalance and that saves him."
Later on Carragher reviewed the VAR's call and totally agreed that Odegaard got away with one.
Carragher
"I think that’s a penalty, he’s very fortunate there (Martin) Odegaard,"
"There may be something in the slip but I think that's a penalty. We saw something similar at Aston Villa last night, where we thought they were unfortunate not to get one after a slip."
The official reasoning as to why Liverpool did not get the penalty, given by PGMOL.
They clarified it was
"not a clear and obvious error as Odegaard's arm is moving towards the body and not the ball as he goes down."
By that time the blow had been softened before the break though as Salah levelled for the hosts after 29 minutes with a sublime solo goal, setting up a decisive second period.
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