Chelsea were awarded two penalties in their defeat to Liverpool at Anfield when Conor Gallagher and Christopher Nkunku were brought down by Dutch defender Virgil van Dijk.
Rio Ferdinand was surprised VAR did not step in to award Chelsea a penalty against Liverpool, with the Blues twice denied from the spot.
Jurgen Klopp’s side recorded a resounding 4-1 win over the west London outfit, but Chelsea were unable to influence the tempo of the game.
Conor Gallagher was the first to go down in the penalty area when the midfielder’s burst dislocated Virgil van Dijk’s knee.
Paul Tierney kept the game goalless until Diogo Iota, Conor Bradley and Dominic Soboslay opened up a healthy lead for the Reds.
Christopher Nkunku returned from injury to reduce the deficit and catch Van Dijk himself. The Dutch defender hit Nkunku’s leg in the penalty area, sending the Frenchman to the ground.
The story was investigated, but John Brooks denied it. Ferdinand believes that if those decisions had been changed, the nature of the game could have been different.
The former Manchester United star could not believe Chelsea had been denied two penalties. After the game, he said: “I can’t believe VAR didn’t see that and didn’t give a penalty.
VAR is designed to help in these situations. How did they feel about these two incidents and didn’t they think it was a punishment?
“I think Chelsea were in a better position today, but that penalty could have changed the course of the game.”Blues manager Mauricio Pochettino was less critical of the referees.
The 51-year-old felt his side should have been awarded a penalty but did not use that as an excuse for their performance.
“Apparently we saw it on the iPad and thought it might be a penalty,” he said. It was unfortunate for us, but it doesn’t change the feeling that Liverpool are better than us.
“No, I think these are the final excuses,” Pochettino told a news conference. “We didn’t play well. They deserved the win, they were better than us.”
“Obviously it’s a situation where we could have kept the scores close, but I don’t want to talk about that kind of behavior today because it’s part of football.
“Honestly, we didn’t achieve as much as we wanted. From the first attempt, for 90 minutes, they were better than us.
It’s the kind of game that makes you say, ‘Well done Liverpool’. “I think the way we approach the game will be different in the [Carabao Cup] final,” he said.
