LONDON - Crystal Palace captain, Luka Milivojevic, does not believe Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah should have won a penalty on Monday night. However, he’d prefer not to see Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology in the Premier League.
Salah won a penalty in first half stoppage time and James Milner scored from the spot to send the hosts into the break leading 1-0. The Reds went on to win the match 2-0 after Sadio Mane scored in the 91st minute.
"I do not want VAR in this league," he told the Liverpool Echo. "In my opinion in this country you have the best referees in the world. That is my opinion and I do not think VAR will help. They are human beings, and they make mistakes sometimes. In his opinion he (the referee) did the right thing.
"As players, we have to respect the referee. We are not a team who will cry over that penalty, we just carry on. This is not the first mistake in football. We were angry in the first minute but in football you do not have time to cry."
The referee judged former Liverpool defender Mamadou Sakho to have brought down Salah, but Milivojevic said he saw no contact. The Serbia international also said he spoke to Salah when a foul was called. "I told (Salah) ‘say to the referee it was not a penalty’. But he said ‘it was’. From his point of view it was a penalty as well."
A couple of key moments just before half time cost us tonight but solid performance against one of the league’s best... must take positives into Sunday! #CPFC pic.twitter.com/8qPzvXz4dF
— Andros Townsend (@andros_townsend) August 20, 2018