The reason why Pascal Gross wasn't sent off during penalty incident vs Liverpool | OneFootball

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Liverpool's 2-2 draw against Brighton & Hove Albion saw the club left feeling aggrieved and hard done by with VAR once again after Pascal Gross somehow escaped a red card when he gave away a penalty in the first half. The midfielder pulled Dominik Szoboszlai down by his shirt inside his own area to give away the spot kick that allowed Jurgen Klopp's side to take the lead.

The penalty, on the surface, should have been enough to please the Reds after the controversy that has surrounded the club's recent Premier League match against Tottenham Hotspur and the failures of VAR during that contest, but it has actually left them even more annoyed as Gross probably should have received his marching orders for the foul. Instead, he remained on the pitch and his side came back to snag a draw.

Considering the position in which Szoboszlai was in when he was dragged down, it seemed like an automatic red, but Gross escaped without a sending-off, and now we know why.

How did Brighton & Hove Albion vs Liverpool play out?

The match was an outstanding affair between two top sides, but you wouldn't have known from watching the game as mistakes were largely the story for every single goal. First, a poor pass from Virgil van Dijk saw the Seagulls pick up the ball in a dangerous position and Simon Adingra smashed it past Allison from distance as the keeper was scrambling back towards his goal.

Next, it was Liverpool's turn to capitalise on a mistake as Brighton gave the ball away inside their own half and the Reds burst forward in a pack. Some wonderful football followed, and the ball eventually found Mohamed Salah in the area who smashed it home first time with his left foot. Gross conceded the penalty just minutes later to give Liverpool the half-time lead.

Finally, Andy Robertson's decision to pull out of blocking the ball, in fear of turning a cross into his own goal, meant the ball found Lewis Dunk in front of the Reds' goal, and he equalised for Roberto De Zerbi's side. It was an entertaining match, and a draw was a fair result all things considered, but things could have played out very differently if Gross received a red card for his foul on Szoboszlai.

Why didn't Pascal Gross receive a red card?

This week, Liverpool will have felt nothing but animosity towards VAR after their shambolic performance during the Reds game against Spurs last week and their decision not to send Gross off won't have helped matters. According to the officials, per the Liverpool Echo, they didn't consider Szoboszlai to have had a clear goalscoring opportunity when he was brought down by the Seagulls midfielder, which is quite absurd considering his position when fouled.

The Hungarian only had to make solid contact with the ball, and he'd have played it into an empty goal to give his team the lead, so for VAR not to view that as a clear goalscoring opportunity is quite baffling, to say the least. According to the rules, if a player commits an offence against an opponent within their own penalty area which denies an opponent an obvious goal-scoring opportunity and the referee awards a penalty kick, the offender is cautioned if the offence was an attempt to play the ball or a challenge for the ball; in all other circumstances (e.g. holding, pulling, pushing, no possibility to play the ball etc.), the offending player must be sent off.

By that definition, Gross should have been sent off as Szoboszlai clearly had an obvious goalscoring opportunity and would have almost certainly hit the back of the net if he wasn't brought down. Inexplicably, though, VAR didn't see it that way.