Did Isak Hien deserve a red card in the Europa League quarterfinal clash against Liverpool?
Atalanta player Isak Hien has been the subject of discussion after being involved in a controversial moment of play against Liverpool FC in the UEFA Europa Leagues’ second-leg quarterfinal encounter. During the first half of the match, the Reds’ Mohamed Salah seemed to have played a well-measured ball for his teammate Luis Diaz.
However, Isak Hien got in the way of Salah’s pass and the ball pretty much kind of brushed off his hand and was shrugged off in a different direction from Diaz. The other players from Liverpool were convinced that it was a deliberate action committed by the host’s player, but the match official wasn’t on the same page as he went on to only show a yellow card to Hien.
Former Liverpool and Stoke City player Peter Crouch handed out his verdict on that very particular incident during the game. Crouch subjected his dissatisfaction with Isak Hein not being given a red card for what in his terms was a deliberate touch of the ball. Talking to ‘TNT Sports’, he reportedly stated –
“I was screaming for a red card straight away. You can see he leans into the ball. It’s a definite move of the arm. I think Diaz is going in here, I think he takes a touch across him. I think that should be a red card”.
From the words of Peter Crouch, it is quite evident that he feels that Isak Hien could have easily gotten a red card for his antics. However, as it turned out the officials didn’t deem it to be a significant intervention in that particular phase of play and maybe it was hailed as a reactionary touch then a deliberative one by the Atalanta’s player.
Atalanta knock-out Liverpool from the 2023-2024 UEFA Europa League
Atalanta shocked everyone when they turned up against Liverpool at Anfield and handed the hosts a 0-3 defeat in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League quarterfinal clash. The honors were on Liverpool to visit Atalanta and maybe turn on some magical performances to try to claim a significant come-back performance.
After Mohamed Salah scored a seventh-minute penalty to hand the visitors an early lead it did look like that maybe they would be able to stretch a historic comeback on the night. But it wasn’t destined to be the same. The Reds struggled to get a hold of the game after a decent start and Atalanta managed to frustrate them with a low block.
As a result, the match ended in a 0-1 win for Liverpool but they petted out of the Europa League with a 3-1 aggregate scoreline in favour of the hosts. With Liverpool’s departure from the prestigious competition, there is only one Premier League team left in Europe’s major competitions this season in the form of Aston Villa.
Also Read: Jurgen Klopp shrugs off concerns regarding Mohamed Salah’s form after Liverpool’s Europa League exit