Southampton boss Ivan Juric was flabbergasted by the decision to award Liverpool a penalty during the second half of Saturday's 3-1 defeat at Anfield.
The rock-bottom Saints held a 1-0 lead at halftime, but Juric and Co.'s hard work quickly came undone in the second 45 minutes.
Darwin Nunez equalized for the home side in the 51st minute before going down under the challenge of Will Smallbone in the 52nd minute.
This allowed Mohamed Salah to step up and dispatch from 18 yards to capture the lead.
Juric says the penalty decision swung the game's momentum, with Southampton looking in good shape for points.
Juric
"They reacted really well. We had really good moments of the first half,"
"I think the [first] penalty was not a penalty and that changed the match. I am satisfied with how we played today.
“This cannot be a penalty ever. I'm sorry it happened because it was 1-1 and it changed the match a little bit.
“We have lots of young players who want to grow up and improve. We can lose but we have to fight like we fight today."
Salah went on to put the game to bed in the 88th minute with another spot-kick to extend Liverpool's lead at the top of the Premier League
Arne Slot, who is serving a touchline ban for a red card in the draw with Everton, has a 16-point lead over Mikel Arteta's Arsenal. However, the Gunners do hold two games in hand.
The win over the Saints will serve as a tune-up for the Reds' Champions League Round of 16 second-leg clash with French champions Paris Saint-Germain next Tuesday
Liverpool left Paris earlier this week with a 1-0 advantage despite spending most of the game under intense pressure from the Parisians.
PSG players and figures have expressed confidence heading into their trip to Anfield, but Slot has insisted his team deserved it.
Slot
"We weren't a little bit lucky [against PSG], we were really lucky - but as Michael Jordan said once,
'The harder you work, the more luck you have'," said Slot after the game.
"This is the biggest compliment you have to give the players, they worked incredibly hard.
“That also has to do with the players being - if you were 45 minutes with the other team having the ball a lot and having to defend so much - mentally and physically so strong to come up with the second-half performance of not giving away as many open chances as we did in the first half.
"And, even scoring a goal on the counter-attack shows you how mentally and physically strong these players are."
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