Arsenal defender David Luiz has defended the penalty incident on Mohamed Salah, saying the Egyptian told him he didn’t feel the shirt pull.
Mohamed Salah scored twice as Liverpool beat Arsenal 3-1 at the Anfield to top the Premier League after three rounds.
Joel Matip opened the scoring after 41 minutes, before Salah doubled the lead from the spot four minutes into the second-half after he was tugged back inside the box by Luiz.
Luiz criticized the decision, claiming that Salah and himself agreed that there was not enough power in the shirt pull.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, Luiz said: “I think the second goal, the penalty, killed the game.
“Yes [it was instinctive], I think you cannot take this out of the players, it’s just a reflex. When I turn I see and I take but I take off the power [of the pull].
“That’s when I spoke with Momo [Salah] and he said, ‘I didn’t feel you touch me, that’s why I didn’t go down to the floor’.
“But now the VAR you cannot see the power [of the shirt pull] so it’s difficult for the referees, he saw the shirt like that. It’s difficult for them, so I cannot complain to the referees.
“If you play with an extra-large shirt now it could be a penalty every time. It’s interpretation. If you pull someone with power and you stop him trying to go to the ball it’s different. This was just a reflex.
“But that’s it, he scored the penalty and gave me a yellow. For the third goal I could not make the foul and put my team in trouble with 10 men.
“So I think I conditioned my game after that, it was more difficult, but the team fight until the end.
“If I pull your shirt or put my hand on your shirt it’s totally different, the power is different. VAR is difficult for them they cannot see the power. It depends on the interpretation. I spoke with Momo he said, ‘I didn’t feel that’,” Luiz added.
Source:Kingfut
