Express. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express.
Kompany silences Mourinho and Keane as Man City legend slams decision against Liverpool
Sky Sports had a stellar punditry panel as Liverpool welcomed title rivals Manchester City to Anfield.
Liverpool: Alexander-Arnold handball 'so obvious' says Gray
Manchester City legend Vincent Kompany was left fuming at VAR following a controversial decision in the match between Liverpool and his former side on Sunday.
City appealed for a penalty after the ball appeared to strike Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold on the arm.
Referee Michael Oliver waved away claims of a penalty and Liverpool counter-attacked and scored through a fine long-range strike from Fabinho.
VAR checked the decision but decided it was not worthy of a spot-kick.
But then one way or another, that’s a handball [from Alexander-Arnold], that’s not a natural position
Kompany was working as a pundit for Sky Sports alongside Manchester United legend Roy Keane, former Chelsea and United boss Jose Mourinho and Liverpool great Graeme Souness.
And the former Manchester City captain, who is now player-manager at Anderlecht, says a penalty should have been awarded.
“One way or another, the action should have been stopped there and then, in the [Liverpool] box,” Kompany said.
“The reason being, and you can argue about Bernardo [Silva]’s handball here, I think he doesn’t know anything about it in terms of it’s a natural position.
“But then one way or another, that’s a handball [from Alexander-Arnold], that’s not a natural position.”
Presenter Dave Jones then asked Keane, Mourinho and Souness for their view.
Jones said: “You don’t think that’s a natural position. Does anyone agree or disagree with that?”
But there was no response and after a few seconds Jones said: “I’ve got silence in here!”
Kompany continued to fume over the decision.
He added: “One way or another you stop the action there and you make a decision.
“You can go whichever way you want to go - my interpretation is that Bernardo’s hand is in a natural position and Alexander-Arnold’s isn’t.”
Souness eventually had his say but did not commit himself either way.
“If you’re stopping it, you’re stopping it to give a penalty,” the Scot said.
“You can’t just stop it for the sake of stopping it. I think we’re all in the same boat here.
“We’ve all seen them given and we’ve all seen them not given.”
Mourinho replied: “That’s the worst thing. The worst thing is exactly that, the inconsistency.”
And Keane concluded: “We’ll see that incident next week and it will be given a penalty.”