Referee Craig Pawson sent off Dominik Szoboszlai by the letter of the law; the only way it should be done
Refereeing is the most thankless of jobs. There are times when you can get a decision absolutely right and still you get criticised on all sides.
In the final seconds at Anfield on Sunday, with the Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson caught upfield, Rayan Cherki rolled the ball towards the Liverpool goal. Erling Haaland gave chase and would have gotten there to nudge the ball definitively over the line but he was pulled back by Dominik Szoboszlai, who would then have caught up with the ball to clear had he not been pulled back by Haaland. The ball crossed the line but the referee Craig Pawson, after a VAR review, gave not a goal but a free-kick for the first offence, sending Szoboszlai off for the denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity.
“Common sense no?” said Pep Guardiola, put in the strange position of opposing a decision that technically went for his team. “We won the game [but] now Dominik Szoboszlai cannot play. I know he pulled him but how many pulls [are there] and the referee says play on in this country, in this league? Give a goal, 3-1, Szoboszlai can play and we are happy.”
