Patrick Vieira could barely contain his anger at Liverpool’s penalty award against Crystal Palace during a frantic Premier League clash.
The Reds were given a contentious spot kick during the closing moments of their meeting at Selhurst Park on Sunday after Diogo Jota collided with Palace goalkeeper Vicente Guaita inside the area.
Having initially not given a foul, referee Kevin Friend reversed his decision after being told to consult his pitchside monitor by VAR official Craig Pawson.
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Fabinho netted from the spot to earn Liverpool a 3-1 win after the visitors had to withstand intense Palace pressure during the second half.
And a seething Vieria said: “I don’t even want to talk about it because I don’t want to be disrespectful to the referees today.
“I can’t understand how he managed to give that penalty. I looked at it from every single angle and I still don’t understand how that can be a penalty.
“That decision took our hope away to get back into the game and get the points. That was a really poor decision by the referee.”
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Vieira added: “We had meetings with referees (earlier in the season) and explained contact is part of the game.
"If it’s innocuous contact it wasn’t going to be a penalty.
“Jota was quite really smart and the VAR were quite really naive.
"There’s no way Jota could get the ball back and try to score and there was no way Vince tried to stop him.”
Vieira was also unhappy Roberto Firmino was not adjudged offside when attempting to reach an Andy Robertson cross that eventually fell for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to score Liverpool’s second.
“Possible offside? I don’t think that (possible) is a word that should be acceptable in our world,” added the Palace manager.
“He either is making an impact or isn’t and he is clearly making an impact so should be offside.”
