Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk escaped action during the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg against Tottenham Hotspur following an incident with Brazilian striker Richarlison.
In the opening two minutes of that contest at Anfield, the Spurs forward was left in a heap after seemingly being caught by the Reds captain’s arm during a tussle for the ball.
Craig Pawson, who was on top of the incident, allowed play to continue before calling the two players together, after Richarlison took umbrage with the strong play from the Liverpool centre-back. The two tangled shortly after with Van Dijk bringing down the attacker on the edge of the Spurs box.
football.London understands the incident was checked, and cleared, for violent conduct as the video assistant referee (VAR) deemed that there was no error on-field to overturn the decision.
At the time of the incident, Ally McCoist, who was on commentary for ITV, said: “I don’t think there’s any doubt about having a look at it. He definitely brings him arm up, in a bid to hold him off, shrug him off the challenge.
“Is it a bit aggressive? There’s an elbow there let me tell you that now, there’s an elbow in the chin.
“Here we see it, maybe just below the chin but they’ll certainly have a look at that. He might just get away with it because his below his chin Sam [Matterface].”
Spurs went into the second-leg at Anfield with a slender one-goal lead after Lucas Bergvall’s late winner in north London. However, the tie was levelled when Cody Gakpo fired home in the first half for Liverpool.
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