Crystal Palace's Luka Milivojevic Feels Liverpool's Salah Should Have Been Honest Over Penalty Call
Crystal Palace midfielder Luka Milivojevic believes that Liverpool star Mohamed Salah should have told referee Michael Oliver that the decision to give the penalty was wrong.
The Reds were given a penalty just before half-time during their Premier League encounter against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, after former Red's defender Mamadou Sakho appeared to trip the Egyptian as he looked to have an effort on goal.
The Merseyside-outfit went on to win the game 2-0 as Sadio Mane's injury-time goal on the counter-attack sealed the three points for Liverpool, but the Eagles will have taken many reassurances from the game despite the defeat.
Speaking to the Telegraph, Milivojevic does not feel that VAR should be introduced into the Premier League, although the presence of video technology may have convinced Oliver to change his decision.
"I do not want VAR in this league," he said. "In my opinion in this country, you have the best referees in the world. That is my opinion and I do not think VAR will help. They are human beings, and they make mistakes sometimes."
Milivojevic was very close to the game-changing incident in which Liverpool took the lead through a James Milner penalty, and in his opinion Palace was robbed.
Sakho tripped Salah, ergo it’s a foul. As the laws of the game state, a foul is awarded if a player “trips or attempts to trip (an opponent).
— Tony Barrett (@TonyBarrett) August 20, 2018
If an offence involves contact it is penalised by a direct free kick or penalty kick.”
"He fell down and for the referee, it was a penalty," he remarked. "I did not see the contact on Salah. For me, it was clear, it was not a penalty.
"I told him [Salah] 'say to the referee it was not a penalty'. But he said 'it was'. From his point of view, it was a penalty as well."