The Premier League second leg against Bournemouth was Liverpool’s first home game of the season and the home debut of the new players. Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister started, and Wataru Endo came on during the game.
Despite conceding the first goal, Liverpool scored three goals to win the game in reverse order. Despite the result, Liverpool showed their superiority, but in the 58th minute, an unsatisfying incident occurred.
The back of a spike hit the foot of a player who raised his leg slightly to take the ball out of the opponent’s possession and swung it over to kick the ball, resulting in a one-shot red card being shown even though a yellow card would have been appropriate.
With none of the Bournemouth players appealing to the referee, the Argentine midfielder left the pitch with his shoulders slumped at the sudden red card. In another match, a more vicious tackle was settled with a yellow card, which was clearly a misjudgement.
The Athletic told Liverpool was not happy with the decision and has lodged a formal appeal for the removal of the red card in the match against Bournemouth.
If their appeal is accepted, he will be able to play in the next game against Newcastle without any problems. However, if it is not accepted, he will miss the Newcastle game, as well as the two games against Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Even with the arrival of Endo Wataru, will the former Brighton midfielder, who contributed to the team’s victory with a witty, if not flashy, performance at the bottom of midfield, be able to play on the pitch for the next game…?