Watch: Liverpool’s Mo Salah denied clear penalty after clumsy foul
Mohamed Salah made his first Liverpool start since returning from Africa Cup of Nations duty in Sunday’s 1-0 win over Burnley – and was denied a first-half penalty after a clumsy challenge from Wout Weghorst.
Salah returned from the tournament having led Egypt to the final but suffered heartbreak in their penalty shoot-out defeat to Senegal on February 6.
The forward played a brief cameo role during last Thursday’s win over Leicester and returned to Jurgen Klopp’s starting line-up for yesterday’s trip to Turf Moor.
Burnley may be propping up the Premier League table but nobody of a Liverpool persuasion expected an easy game given the reputation of Sean Dyche’s side.
And so it proved. In weather that would make ducks think twice about venturing outside, Liverpool secured a narrow victory through Fabinho’s goal late in the first-half.
Salah wasn’t able to get himself on the scoresheet but surely should have been awarded a penalty early in the game after he was felled by Weghorst’s clumsy lunge.
The 29-year-old looked primed to have a shot on goal until Burnley’s new signing clipped his trailing leg and sent Salah tumbling to the ground.
But referee Martin Atkinson deemed the incident unworthy of awarding Liverpool a spot-kick and the game continued.
After the game, Klopp saluted the efforts of his Liverpool players after they dodged a “banana skin” in their pursuit of Manchester City.
“It was a perfect afternoon,” Klopp said. “Rainy, windy, men’s football. Everything here today was set up for a banana skin for us. We were ready for it; we scored a goal from a set-piece which was brilliant.
“We didn’t have to do a lot, to be honest, because each ball in the air was tricky to defend, the wind came from all directions. We played the circumstances instead of suffering, I’m really happy about it.”
Salah gets fouled and no penalty call, water is wet pic.twitter.com/9SEio7ANFo
— M.Salah11 (@fcsalah11) February 13, 2022
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