Watch: Liverpool denied penalty by VAR after blatant Gabriel handball

Planet Football • 09 Oct 2022

Liverpool were left fuming after being denied a penalty for a Gabriel handball during Sunday’s Premier League match against Arsenal.

Jurgen Klopp’s side went into their game at the Emirates in desperate need of a positive result following a stuttering start to the season.

Klopp has faced questions about his side, with some pointing towards a similar decline at Mainz and Borussia Dortmund, but the Champions League-winning coach firmly denied such theories.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Klopp said: “I have no problem with energy. I didn’t leave my other jobs after seven years because I lost energy or whatever.

“Mainz needed a fresh start because their players were leaving for the Bundesliga. Dortmund wanted me to stay but it was a case of our players constantly being pulled by other clubs so it was a really hard job.

“The situation is very different here. Being here seven years is intense, no doubt about that, and we have all got older, but it’s nice too.

“Yes, this is a difficult time. Did I think we’d be ninth after match day seven? No, but this is the place where we are now and we go from here. If there is one club that has a chance to go through it, it’s us.

“From this point, does it look like we will be champions at the end of the year? Unfortunately not but, in all other competitions, we are not out yet. Nobody knows where we end up in the league so just give it a go. Difficult yes, impossible no.”

But Arsenal have made a flying start to the new campaign and took the lead in the first minute through Gabriel Martinelli.

Despite the contrast in form between the two sides, Liverpool have too much experience and guile to allow their opponents to dictate the entire game and gradually worked their way back into proceedings.

Klopp had named a positive side – Diogo Jota, Mohamed Salah, Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez all started the game – and the former was incensed after referee Michael Oliver refused to give a penalty for Gabriel’s handball.

Jota’s lobbed cross hit the outstretched arm of Gabriel, but VAR decided not to intervene. It left plenty of observers, including us at Planet Football, confused about the handball rule in the autumn of 2022.

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