Rip Ferdinand shocked at two penalty decisions involving Chelsea in Liverpool loss

Rio Ferdinand was astounded by referee’s decision not to award penalties to Chelsea in Liverpool loss

Rio Ferdinand expressed his thoughts over Chelsea’s failure to receive two penalties in a 4-1 loss to Liverpool. If those spot-kicks had been given to them, the outcome could have proved substantially different.

The former Manchester United player believed the Blues were denied obvious penalties, which could have changed the nature of the match. Virgil van Dijk leant on Conor Gallagher to force the midfielder to hit the woodwork, while referee Paul Tierney waved for the play and VAR ruled out any penalty claim.

The Dutch centre-back was once again in another penalty controversy when he caught Christopher Nkunku in his own box, and despite Var’s review, there was no penalty given. After the game, the former centre-back felt the Blues were robbed of two clear spot-kicks, (h/t Daily Mail), and said:

Paul Tierney spotted Badiashile's foot over Jota's from a good distance away, but has failed to spot Van Dijk kneeing Gallagher and his kick on Nkunku's heel.

VAR have also failed to spot both fouls and denied two stonewall penalties to Chelsea. https://t.co/qaMCDXRGhj

— Sripad (@falsewinger) January 31, 2024

‘I can’t believe VAR hasn’t seen that and not given the penalties. VAR is meant to help in these situations. How have they looked at those two incidents and not thought they were penalties for Chelsea?”

It’s hardly shocking that referees and Var have made a number of erroneous judgements that have impacted the teams at this point. It’s true what Ferdinand stated, and if we had received those well-earned penalties, the outcome of the encounter would have been otherwise.

The fact that referees and VAR are ignoring these rulings and acting as if they don’t matter is now worrying. We must probe the officials to find out why they are making such blatantly incorrigible decisions. However, even we are unable to speak out against them because doing so would result in match bans.

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It’s really complicated, and Liverpool got away with two penalties. However, it was a deserved defeat for us because we were lacklustre and couldn’t do anything, but those penalties would have proved to be different and could have changed the outcome of the match.