Aston Villa Draw Sparks Liverpool's Complaints to PGMOL on Two Questionable Calls.

Liverpool has requested an explanation from PGMOL, the governing body responsible for Premier League refereeing, regarding two decisions made during their weekend draw with Aston Villa.

The game ended in a 1-1 tie, with Liverpool scoring a late equalizer thanks to Roberto Firmino. However, the result allowed Manchester United, who currently sits in fourth place, to pull ahead of Liverpool in the race to secure a top-four finish and Champions League qualification.

Jurgen Klopp has already conceded the loss and has shifted his focus to playing in the Europa League. Despite this, Liverpool still wants to understand the reasoning behind two contentious decisions made during the Villa game.

The first incident involves a potentially crucial equalizer from Cody Gakpo that was disallowed after Virgil van Dijk was deemed to have been offside. Van Dijk had gone past the last line of defense when Luis Diaz attempted to head the ball back across goal, but it ricocheted off Villa's Ezri Konsa and rebounded to Van Dijk. As a defender deliberately attempted to play the ball, Gakpo could not be offside according to the rules. However, referee John Brooks was advised by the VAR official to consult the pitch-side monitor and ruled out the goal, believing Konsa's contact with the ball that directed it to Van Dijk was unintentional.

The other incident involved Brooks' decision to issue a yellow card instead of a red to Tyrone Mings for a reckless, chest-high challenge on Gakpo, resulting in the Liverpool striker tearing his shirt and sustaining visible cuts and grazes on his body. Despite a VAR review, the yellow card was not upgraded to a red.

Klopp, who was prohibited from the touchline at Anfield due to previous comments about referee Paul Tierney, criticized the decision and stated that Gakpo couldn't have suffered those injuries without experiencing a “proper foul.”

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