JAMIE CARRAGHER slammed VAR after Bournemouth star Marco Senesi avoided an early red card against Liverpool.
The defender appeared to have deliberately handled, but the video assistants did not intervene.
The flashpoint occurred on 14 minutes as Mo Salah attempted to play new boy Hugo Ekitike in.
A poor touch by Senesi appeared to play Ekitike in on goal, albeit barely beyond the halfway line.
Looking to atone for his error, the defender reached his arm out and patted the ball away in a manner that appeared deliberate.
Senesi subsequently cleared, with an appealing Cody Gakpo handballing and Bournemouth being awarded a free-kick.
Reds boss Arne Slot was incensed by the incident, with Liverpool players also appealing.
But despite the protestations, VAR did not intervene.
Commentating on Sky Sports, Peter Drury said: “Check is complete from the VAR, the suggestion being that he had no control of the ball [and] it bounced up off his body onto his other arm.”
On co-comms duty, Carragher replied: “That’s handball. He knows exactly what he’s doing, it’s his reaction as a defender, but that was handball.”
Carra, 47, then added: “The information the referee got there was not correct.”
Confirming the decision, the Premier League Match Centre added that the VAR felt that not only was the incident not a handball, but also that, even if Senesi had handled the ball, it would not have met the criteria for an on-field review as Ekitike was too far away from the goal for a red card to be given – despite the Argentine being the last man.
A Prem post on X read: “The referee’s call of no red card to Senesi was checked and confirmed by VAR – with the action deemed not to be a clear handball offence nor denial of a goal scoring opportunity (DOGSO), due to the distance from goal.”
Ekitike, 23, went on to fire Liverpool into the lead on 37 minutes… with Senesi at fault.
The French striker easily beat his marker before calmly slotting past Djordje Petrovic to score his first Premier League goal.
Cody Gakpo then doubled the lead early in the second half before Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo delivered the perfect response to alleged racist abuse from a fan by scoring twice to level the match.
But Federico Chiesa scored late on to send Anfield into raptures before Mo Salah added another in stoppage time.
Following their 4-2 win, Liverpool released a statement condemning the alleged racist abuse of Semenyo.
It read: “Liverpool Football Club is aware of an allegation of racist abuse made during our Premier League game against AFC Bournemouth.
“We condemn racism and discrimination in all forms, it has no place in society or football.
“The club is unable to comment further as tonight’s alleged incident is the subject of an ongoing police investigation, which we will support fully.”
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