Playing for 90
Fansided

Tottenham beat nine-man Liverpool 2-1

By Ernesto Hernandez

A dejected Virgil van Dijk and Ryan Gravenberch after Joel Matip scored an own goal in the 96th minute during the match between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool FC at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on September 30, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Matthew Ashton - AMA/Getty Images)
A dejected Virgil van Dijk and Ryan Gravenberch after Joel Matip scored an own goal in the 96th minute during the match between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool FC at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on September 30, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Matthew Ashton - AMA/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Heung-Min Son celebrates with Pedro Porro following the team’s victory during the match between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool FC at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on September 30, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
Heung-Min Son celebrates with Pedro Porro following the team’s victory during the match between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool FC at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on September 30, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images) /

Update: The PGMOL has since released a statement admitting a “significant human error” occurred during Luis Diaz’s disallowed goal and VAR should have intervened

Joel Matip scored an own goal in the 96th minute as Tottenham beat Liverpool 2-1 to move into second place in the Premier League standings.

For everyone not a Spurs fan, that wasn’t the sticking point of the game.

That’s because this match is going to be marred by a number of referring decisions, all going against Liverpool.

The first one came in the 26th minute as Curtis Jones was sent off. Jones went over the top of the ball and ended up catching Yves Bissouma with his studs. The referee was called to take a look at the monitor and changed his decision from a yellow card to a red.

The next controversial decision came in the 34th minute.

Down a man, Liverpool thought they took the lead after Mohamed Salah found Luis Diaz through the middle. Diaz then did well to cross his shot into goal. However, Liverpool’s joy was quelled after Diaz was called offside.

On replay, it looked like he was onside.

https://twitter.com/TelemundoSports/status/1708166893427642379

“It’s not offside. Never. They drew their lines wrong,” Jurgen Klopp said after the game.

Spurs took advantage of being up a man up as Son Heung-Min opened the scored in the 36th minute. But his goal would quickly be negated when Cody Gakpo equalized for Liverpool.

https://twitter.com/NBCSportsSoccer/status/1708170463464116452

However, Gakpo ended up injuring himself and while he finished the half, was subbed out after halftime for Diogo Jota.

Jota would be at the center of the next controversy as he picked up two yellow cards in quick succession. Both cards were soft at best but it left Liverpool down to nine players.

Spurs tried and tried to get the winner but Liverpool held firm.

With time winding down, it seems like Spurs’ inability to beat Liverpool was going to continue.

But in the final minute of stoppage time, Pedro Porro sent in a low cross that Matip tried to clear, only to mishit it and end up in the back of the net.

https://twitter.com/NBCSportsSoccer/status/1708187691848720447

An unlucky way for Liverpool to lose given the way they defended after going down to nine.

Again, despite Spurs’ win, the talking points for the next couple of days is certainly going to focus on the refereeing decisions. Especially with the offside call as there was no replay given with the lines drawn to definitively prove an offside did exist.

Klopp was asked about the decisions that went against his team but aside from stating Diaz’s goal wasn’t offside, he didn’t want to get into that.

Next. Fermín López shines in late win over Sevilla. dark

Liverpool had an opportunity to climb past Manchester City at the top of the table. As mentioned, Tottenham rose up to second while Liverpool now sit in fourth.

Home/Premier League