Liverpool: Pundit 'amazed' if Leicester stay above Man City
Leicester City goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel was furious with referee Michael Oliver after his side lost ground in the Premier League title race with a defeat to Liverpool. The Foxes were beaten 4-0 by the league leaders on Boxing Day.
Schmeichel was left reeling with the decision to award Liverpool a penalty in the second half of the game on Thursday.
With the Reds leading 1-0, they were awarded a spot-kick in slightly controversial circumstances after Caglar Soyuncu was judged to have handled the ball.
Trent Alexander-Arnold whipped in a corner from the left side of the pitch, which was struck with pace and evaded the first few players inside the box.
When it fell to Soyuncu, the defender looked like he didn't have a clue what was going on before the ball struck his hand.
Kasper Schmeichel was furious with Michael Oliver (Image: GETTY)
The ball flicked off Jamie Vardy as the striker tried to header away the ball, but it instead fell to Soyuncu, who was unable to move his hand out of the way quickly enough.
Oliver pointed to the spot, and James Milner chipped in the resulting penalty.
From there, Liverpool never looked back, and added to the rout through Firmino and Alexander-Arnold.
The result leaves Leicester 13 points behind the Reds - who have a game in hand over Leicester and Manchester City.
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And Schmeichel was furious that the game was turned by the decision, as he claimed Oliver was "desperate" to hand the visitors a penalty.
"I think it was a bit tough," the goalkeeper said after the game.
"We were in the game until the referee had to make himself a hero, and from then on we lost our composure.
"They are the best side in the world along with Manchester City. We strive to be like Manchester City and Liverpool but they are a lot further along in their journey."
Calgar Soyuncu gave away the penalty after handling the ball from a corner (Image: GETTY)
Schmeichel then went back to the subject of Oliver and the penalty decision, as he brought up Sky Sports' referee pundit Dermot Gallagher.
"What’s his name, Dermot [Gallagher], he’ll be on Sky saying ‘oh, it’s a great decision, the referee was brave’ or something like that.
“I don’t know what he’s supposed to do. His arm’s down by his side, it’s been flicked off someone at the front post, he’s got less than a millisecond to react.
“He’s [Oliver] desperate to give it, and once he gives it, VAR’s never going to overturn it is it?”