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Slot laments VAR penalty decision as Liverpool crashes out of UEFA Champions League
15th April, 2026 06:57 AM
Arne Slot wasn’t surprised Liverpool’s penalty against Paris Saint-Germain was overturned, as he believes “so many decisions have gone against” his club this season.
Liverpool were dumped out of the Champions League after another 2-0 quarter-final defeat to PSG at Anfield saw them beaten 4-0 on aggregate.
VAR penalty review
Liverpool produced a spirited performance that unsettled the European champions until Ousmane Dembele punished them twice late in the game. There were good moments for the Reds, especially when Alexis Mac Allister thought he had won a penalty at 0-0, only for it to be controversially revoked by the referee following a VAR review.
“It’s soft, but in my opinion it is a penalty,” said Tim Sherwood, who was watching the game on Soccer Special.
“It’s quite simple. If the referee doesn’t give a penalty the VAR would have never overturned it but I’ve seen so many soft penalties given but people say VAR can’t interfere because there is contact. That is what we clearly see.”
Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate said, “For me, it was a clear penalty. I was behind the referee. If we got the penalty and scored, it would have been completely different.”
In the post match press conference Sky Sports News‘ Vinny O’Connor said he was surprised the penalty decision was overturned given there was contact.
“Me too,” replied Slot. “But not when it comes to us because this has happened to us multiple times this season.
“I think it was Rodri or Bernardo Silva who said they [Manchester City] have been very unlucky with referees this season. I heard them say this one month ago, something like that.
“If you can say that then remember both games you played against us, how many decisions then went against us. So what does this tell you about us?”
Liverpool have failed to build on their Premier League winning season under Slot last year despite signing the likes of Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz in the summer.
On transition
Slot has come under pressure to keep his job, such has been their underperformance, and they still have a job on to secure a top-five finish in the Premier League to play Champions League football next season.
Slot said, “Much has been said that the club is in a transition. The club has sold 8-10 players to make money to sign five or so very talented players.
“We have to sell to buy. We are losing some players on a free transfer, Mo Salah and Andy Robertson.
“It is a big challenge in the summer, but the club has shown this model works. As I said many times, the future looks very good, especially if we can sign players after good players leave this summer.”
