Liverpool receive new Brentford penalty VAR verdict after 'soft' Arne Slot claim

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Ex-Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has claimed that Virgil van Dijk did indeed commit a penalty offence during their match with Brentford . Arne Slot's team endured their fourth consecutive league defeat, losing 3-2 to the Bees.

The game-changing moment occurred in the 60th minute when Van Dijk accidentally tripped Dango Ouattara as the forward was exiting the penalty area. Initially, ruled as a free kick to the west London side, but following a video assistant referee review, contact occurred on the line of the box, thus resulting in a penalty.

Igor Thiago successfully converted the penalty, putting Brentford ahead 3-1. A late goal from Mohamed Salah , which reduced the deficit, ultimately meant that the penalty became the winning goal.

While revisiting the incident during Ref Watch on Sky Sports News , Gallagher, himself a former top-tier official, maintained that the decision was correct. However, he did concede that referees could only make such a call with the help of a VAR.

He stated: "It's a penalty which would only be given with VAR, there's no doubt about that. Tim Robinson [the referee] gives a foul, VAR looks at it, and it's on the line.

"The line is owned by the goalkeeper, and it's part of the penalty area, because it's on the line and it defaults to a penalty. Without that, you would never see that with the naked eye."

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The former Queens Park Rangers striker Jay Bothroyd , who was analysing the incident alongside Gallagher, believes Ouattara was trying to initiate contact and therefore a penalty. He said, "I think that's an example of cute play.

"I think that is Ouattara there, he is going away from the goal, and Virgil gets to a point where he thinks he can win the ball. Django then toes the ball away before he can get there.

"It's cute play, and by the letter of the law, it is a penalty. But I would look at that and say it is soft."

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Gallagher added, "That's the luxury VAR has got. You can look from different angles, and you can freeze frame.

"As I said, you would never give that with the naked eye, because you would be in so much doubt, you would default to a free kick. You could not be certain it was in there."

Slot was furious with the decision, arguing with the fourth official at the time. Also referring to a Liverpool penalty appeal the Reds did not get when Cody Gakpo went down in the Brentford penalty area, the Dutchman said: "If I say it was a soft penalty, I hope you don't say it's an excuse, but it was a very soft penalty.

"I don't think the referee was thinking of giving the penalty, but then they checked it, and if it's given as a foul, then it's a penalty. That bad luck may count if you play a game like we did today.

"It's a crucial moment just before the 2-0, there was a moment where Cody dribbled inside the box and they didn't play the ball. I think if you show both situations to every referee in the world , maybe both are nothing, but if I had to give one of the two penalties, I'd give the one to Cody."

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