Lucas Bergvall, 18, scores winner as Spurs shock Liverpool 1-0 in League Cup semi-final first leg; boss Slot feels youngster should’ve been red-carded earlier
Tottenham’s Lucas Bergvall celebrates his match-winner against Liverpool on Wednesday. Pic/Getty Images
Liverpool boss Arne Slot slammed the controversial decision not to send off Tottenham’s Lucas Bergvall before the teenager sealed a 1-0 win in the English Football League Cup semi-final first leg on Wednesday.
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Slot was furious that Bergvall avoided a second booking after tripping Kostas Tsimikas with a sliding tackle. Tsimikas was forced off the pitch following the challenge but referee Stuart Attwell opted to give Liverpool the chance to counter-attack.
When Liverpool lost possession just seconds later, Tottenham took advantage by breaking into the space vacated by Tsimikas to score the 86th minute winner. Dominic Solanke’s pass was converted by Bergvall for the 18-year-old’s first Tottenham goal.
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Liverpool’s Arne Slot is livid
But a fuming Slot said: “The decision made had a lot of impact on the result tonight. “The fourth official told me why he thought it wasn’t a second yellow and he heard that probably from the referee. “What we can say about it is that he said he didn’t stop the counter-attack, every manager would say they prefer the second yellow than a free-kick.
“Spurs weren’t happy with a few decisions that happened (against Newcastle) on Sunday. Maybe today a decision went in favour of them, which is of course very unlucky for us.”
Inevitably, Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou saw the incident differently. Asked if Bergvall was lucky to avoid a red card, Postecoglou said: “Great question, no he wasn’t. It’s happened to us consistently, you look at our games, and we’ve asked the officials and they’ve said if you play advantage, as long as it’s not a cynical tackle, then yellow card doesn’t get shown. Now to me, that was pretty clear.”
It was a cathartic victory for Postecoglou, who has been under fire from frustrated fans throughout a turbulent season. Injury-hit Tottenham are languishing in 12th place in the Premier League. Postecoglou, who saw his injury problems mount when Rodrigo Bentancur was taken to hospital with a head injury suffered in the first half, admitted it was a relief to see his side win.
“Very proud. We had to deal with some adversity again. We had to compose ourselves,” said Postecoglou.
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