'One of the clearest reds I've EVER seen': Ryan Mason blasts referee Paul Tierney for failing to send Diogo Jota off after his high boot left Oliver Skipp needing stitches... as he claims the decision was an 'IMPOSSIBLE one to miss'
- Paul Tierney did not deem Diogo Jota's high boot to be a reckless challenge
- Ryan Mason was left aghast after the game - claiming it was an easy decision
- Tottenham fell to an agonising 4-3 defeat at Liverpool having staged comeback
Ryan Mason complained that Diogo Jota should have been sent off before scoring Liverpool’s injury-time winner over Tottenham – but Jurgen Klopp suggested Spurs’ caretaker Spurs has bigger things to worry about after they were beaten 4-3 at Anfield.
Mason demanded an explanation as to why Jota was shown only a yellow card for catching Oliver Skipp in the head with a high boot. The forward went on to score in the 94th minute, only 99 seconds after Richarlison had completed a remarkable Spurs comeback from 3-0 down.
‘It was a big decision, a crucial decision and one you can’t really miss. I find it hard and impossible to really understand why,’ Mason said.
‘It's decided the game… I can understand referees and officials on the pitch missing it – even though my feeling was an instant red card because when your studs are showing and you're five-and-a-half feet off the ground, and make contact with a player's head, and draw blood, and there is a gash, I think it ticks all the boxes.
'Probably more so an experienced referee in the VAR room (David Coote), you want him to help the official on the pitch in that moment.’
![Ryan Mason feels Diogo Jota should have been sent off for his challenge on Oliver Skipp late on](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/04/30/20/70409893-12031449-image-a-81_1682881926097.jpg)
Ryan Mason feels Diogo Jota should have been sent off for his challenge on Oliver Skipp late on
![The Portuguese left the midfielder in a heap on the turf and requiring stitches after the challenge](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/04/30/20/70409891-12031449-image-a-82_1682881928515.jpg)
The Portuguese left the midfielder in a heap on the turf and requiring stitches after the challenge
![Mason was left incensed by the failure to send him off - describing it as the clearest red card he had seen](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/04/30/20/70409919-12031449-image-a-83_1682882008626.jpg)
Mason was left incensed by the failure to send him off - describing it as the clearest red card he had seen
But Klopp defended Jota, insisting he meant no malice, and suggested Mason’s focus should be elsewhere.
‘We got a red card for a similar situation, that’s true, but Diogo was not at all intentional - he didn’t see the head and went then with the foot. The foot was high and Skipp went with the head there. That can happen. If he gives a red card, we cannot change that. That’s how it is. I really think Ryan has other things to worry about.’
Jamie Redknapp, however, disagreed with Klopp.
'I think it is a red card you’re endangering the opponent and that’s the letter of the law,' he said on Sky Sports. 'And to compound it that’s the man who scores the winning goal.
'You can understand why he [Mason] is furious about it, and you can see it is a nasty challenge. I don’t think he [jota] is that sort of player. He doesn’t mean to hurt anybody but when you put your foot that high, you can see, it’s a nasty gash as well he gets and for me that’s a red card.'
After last week’s collapse at Newcastle, when Spurs fell 5-0 down inside 21 minutes, Mason admitted he ‘feared’ for side when they went 3-0 down in 15 minutes at Anfield.
![Rubbing salt into the wounds Jota went onto score the winning goal just 99 seconds after Richarlison looked to have equalised for Tottenham](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/04/30/20/70409933-12031449-image-a-84_1682882010691.jpg)
Rubbing salt into the wounds Jota went onto score the winning goal just 99 seconds after Richarlison looked to have equalised for Tottenham
But the visitors rallied brilliantly, pegging Liverpool back with goals from Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Richarlison.
In the end, however, Mason was left devastated after late substitute Lucas Moura’s bad backpass gifted Jota the winner.
‘It is hard to put into words,’ he said. ‘To gift them the winner at the end is impossible to take at this minute… we probably could have scored three of four more.’Klopp was also left frustrated by how his side – and the Anfield crowd – reacted to their early flurry.’Pretty much everyone misunderstood it,’ the German said.
‘I have to say now, I love all of them but my song, don’t sing it. If you want to sing it, sing it after the game in the bars, wherever… we are 3-0 up and I hear “I'm so glad that Jurgen is a red”. It is not over.
Most watched Sport videos
- Fitness experts distinguishes between NRL and Olympic athletes
- Rebeca Andrade reacts to Simone Biles' bow to her after winning gold
- IShowSpeed is challenged to a race by Polish Olympic sprinting star
- Adorable footage of a tiny Simone Biles at junior competition
- MyKayla Skinner claims Simone Biles post led to DEATH THREATS
- Awkward moment Anthony Ammirati gets his crotch stuck on crossbar
- Pole vaulter jokes after going viral for hitting manhood on bar
- Olympics commentator corrected after misgendering USA shot put star
- Letslie Tebogo delivers savage remark after winning gold
- Noah Lyles' Olympic rival speaks out after the 200m final
- Paris 2024 Olympics: Day 11 highlights
- Fans react to Ellie Aldridge winning gold in kitesurfing at Olympic