Liverpool

Liverpool

Premier League • England

Liverpool injuries: Top star leaves Tottenham in leg brace to further confound ‘significant human error’ from VAR

Cody Gakpo Liverpool

Cody Gakpo injured in Liverpool loss at Tottenham

Gody Gakpo could be set for a spell on the sidelines after the Liverpool forward left the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium wearing a leg brace on Saturday evening.

Jurgen Klopp’s men fell to a hugely controversial 2-1 defeat to Spurs on Saturday night with Dutch attacker Gakpo on the scoresheet to level the contest just before half-time.

Liverpool were reduced to nine men in a frenetic contest where a Joel Matip own goal sealed the win for the home side deep into added time.

Luis Diaz saw a first-half goal wrongly ruled out for offside, with the PGMOL since releasing a statement confirming his effort was incorrectly chalked off due to a ‘significant human error’ during the VAR review process.

And now Liverpool’s woes have been further compounded by Gakpo’s injury, with the Netherlands international leaving the stadium with his right knee in a brace.

Gakpo picked up the knock in a challenge from Spurs left-back Destiny Udogie just before scoring his goal, immediately limping away after hitting the back of the net with a thunderous strike that drew the Reds level.

He will now undergo a scan to determine the severity of the problem.

“Cody is now with a brace limping down the corridor,” Klopp said in his post-match press conference.

“That’s my biggest problem, to be honest, in this moment. We lost two players [to red cards] and maybe a third player [to injury], really bad.

“He scored a goal but after that shot he felt it even more. It was from the foul before.”

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Red cards a joke for Klopp

Klopp was left furious with the decision to rule out Diaz’s goal, with replays clearly showing his forward was being kept onside by Cristian Romero.

The Anfield chief also disagreed with the red card decisions that saw both Curtis Jones and substitute Diogo Jota sent off. Indeed, Sky Sports commentator Gary Neville was left frustrated with the red dished out to Jones in the first half.

“The first red card, Curtis steps on the ball and goes over. Not a bad tackle,” Klopp said. “It looks different in slow motion. He steps full throttle on the ball and goes over the ball. That is unlucky.

“[For Jota] first yellow was not a yellow. Then he gets a second and to defend with eight outfield players is tricky.”

Liverpool are back in action on Thursday night when they take on Belgian side Royale Union Saint-Gilloise in the Europa League.

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