Manchester City should have been awarded a penalty prior to Fabinho’s opening goal in Liverpool’s 3-1 win at Anfield on Sunday, according to Kevin Keegan.
The ball appeared to strike Trent Alexander-Arnold on his arm in his own penalty area just moments prior to the Reds breaking down the other end of the field and finding the back of the net, and Keegan, who watched the game live with The Athletic, was baffled by the lack of a spot kick being given.
As reported, he said: “This will be laughable… this will be major… it’s killed the celebration… what a shame… the ref’s right there… this is a game-changer.
“It’s a penalty. That… is… a… penalty! How can you not give that?”
OPINION
To be fair, you can see where Keegan is coming from, although it’s probably not as black and white as he’s suggesting here. The ball strikes Alexander-Arnold on the arm, that much is fairly clear, and you could certainly argue that if that happens at the other end, the Kop is screaming for a penalty. What complicates this one is the fact that the ball also hits Bernardo Silva prior to it hitting Trent. Admittedly, his hand is in a more natural position, and it travels a shorter distance, but that also falls into the grey area of “seen them given” on that basis alone, it’s hard to comprehensively argue that City should have a penalty. What you would say, however, is that the game should very probably have been stopped in some capacity prior to Fabinho hitting the back of the net.
