Michael Owen was left stunned by Sadio Mane, after the Liverpool forward didn’t go down to win a penalty last night, as per his comments live to Premier League Productions.
With the score locked at 0-0 in the 82nd minute, Liverpool almost forged an opportunity to score, but Fabian Schar got back to clear the ball off the line with Karl Darlow beaten.
In his panic Darlow had grabbed to onrushing Mane’s leg, potentially stopping the Liverpool forward from scoring a tap in.
But Mane opted to stay on his feet, and barely even appealed for a spot-kick, much to Owen’s surprise.
“I’m astonished that Mane one didn’t shout and ask the referee, but two didn’t go down,” Owen said.
“He’s quite clearly grabbed by both arms. It’s open to debate if he would have tapped it in without being grabbed, but you can’t grab someone’s legs and quite clearly he prevents him from swinging it.
“It’s not clear and obvious, I go with that, but as a centre forward most players try and make it even more obvious to the referee.
“I think we should applaud it but I’m sure Klopp’s thinking if he went down, we would have got a penalty there.”
Mane has previously been criticised for going down too easily by some rival supporters, but he showed great honesty last night.
Liverpool supporters may wish that he made more of an issue out of the challenge though, as VAR would surely have been more inclined to give the penalty if he had gone down in the box.
As it was Liverpool were not able to find a way past Newcastle’s defence, as they played out a 0-0 draw.
The Reds have now extended their advantage at the top of the table to three points, although some teams around them have a game in hand.
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