'That's football': Merson says £49m Liverpool player did something which 'came back to bite them' last night
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Liverpool are licking their wounds after a frustrating evening led to defeat in the Carabao Cup semi-final first-leg against Tottenham on Wednesday.
The Reds were not at the races all evening, but had reason to feel aggrieved after referee Stuart Attwell failed to send Lucas Bergvall off.
Bergvall should have seen red for a second bookable offence after taking out Kostas Tsimikas. However, Attwell disagreed and the 18-year-old went on to score a late winner for Spurs.
Virgil van Dijk was furious with the referee, while Arne Slot explained what he’d been told by the officials following the game.
As the debate also rumbled on in the Sky Sports studio, pundit Michael Dawson was keen to point out that Bergvall’s first yellow card of the evening was debatable.
And speaking to Sky once the dust had settled on Thursday, Paul Merson agreed with Dawson, and slammed a perceived ‘dive’ from Luis Diaz in the process.
Paul Merson calls out Luis Diaz dive
Liverpool have every right to feel disappointed with the way things went down on Wednesday.
For the second time in two seasons, the Reds feel that they have been robbed at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Nevertheless, there seems to be a degree of sympathy for Bergvall in the media. Not least from Merson, who has claimed that Diaz’s theatrics ‘came back to bite’ Liverpool on the night.
“That’s a yellow card,” the former Arsenal man agreed on Bergvall’s second challenge.
READ MORE: Steve Nicol pinpoints two big Liverpool weaknesses during 1-0 loss to Tottenham
“But it came back to bite Liverpool. Luis Diaz dived on the first one, he shouldn’t have got booked, he dived, he never touched him.
“He slid in down the line, alright he probably shouldn’t slide in but he never touched him. He gets booked for that, for someone diving and it’s come back to bite Liverpool. That’s the way it goes, that’s football.”
Was Lucas Bergvall’s booking deserved?
We can’t believe football people like Dawson and Merson are completely missing the point here.
Diaz certainly did not ‘dive’ when challenged by Bergvall. There was no contact from the young Swede, but the £49m Liverpool man had to jump to avoid his reckless challenge.
Bergvall was high, nowhere near the ball and late. Diaz could have perhaps stayed on his feet, but he also had every right to go down.
In our opinion, it was a very clear booking. The second offence was even more clear.
Whichever way this one is being played by the likes of Merson, the only outcome is that Tottenham got away with one. Big time.
