August 21 2018

Luka Milivojevic

LUKA MILIVOJEVIC says Crystal Palace won't be be crying after a controversial penalty call in the 2-0 Liverpool defeat.

Referee Michael Oliver decided to point to the spot just before half-time when Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah fell under a challenge from Palace's Mamadou Sakho, which James Milner converted.

MILIVOJEVIC reckons Oliver made a bad call and insists the Palace players will not feel sorry for themselves after the loss.

"From my point of view on the field, it was not a penalty," said the Palace skipper. "And now I’ve seen the image after the game, for me it was clear that it was not a penalty.

"But I want to say, Michael Oliver is one of the best in the country. They’re human beings, and they make mistakes sometimes. In his opinion he did the right thing. As players, we have to respect the referee.

"We are not a team who will cry over that penalty, we just carry on."

Palace boss Roy Hodgson was livid with Oliver's decision and is adamant that centre half Sakho was playing within the rules.

"It is not a penalty," said a furious Hodgson. "I have been in football a long time. If that is a penalty, then the game has changed beyond all recognition.

"There is no way he is looking to foul the player. He is trying to defend. There is no way he is looking to get contact on the player himself.

"If people can’t see that, then I will be the pariah who only sees what he wants to see. I do not want penalties for my team in that way. If I do not say that those situations are not penalties, both for and against, I shall be very disappointed in myself."

Hodgson did however feel Oliver made the right call in showing a red card to Aaron Wan-Bissaka for a professional foul on Salah before Liverpool added their second goal.

"It is one of those things," added Hodgson. "He [Wan-Bissaka] definitely touched him. I don’t think he was intending to. The referee was right to send him off."