Abdulrahman Al-Jassim had a Martin Atkinson-esque first-half in Qatar tonight.
The referee for our Club World Cup Final with Flamengo made a number of horrendous calls in the opening 45 minutes that baffled Reds online.
Jordan Henderson was dragged down in the box and the Brazilians got a free-kick for it… Sadio Mane was dragged down on a counter-attack and got booked for it… Naby Keita won the ball excellently in midfield, but the ref gave yet another free-kick for Flamengo.
These are three incidents, but there were plenty others.
With Flamengo flying into tackles and making the most of any contact the other way round, the game needed a strong ref and it sadly hasn’t got one.
Liverpool fans, including journalists like James Pearce and Ian Doyle, reacted appropriately. There’s many tweets we couldn’t share because of explicit language, too!
That's an awful decision. Keita blatantly taken out by Felipe Luis as he tries to latch on to a return pass from Salah on the edge of the box but referee waves play on. Odd.
— James Pearce (@JamesPearceLFC) December 21, 2019
Henderson gets pulled to the ground and the ref gives them a free kick. This is corruption, there’s no other explanation
— FSG OUT (@ShaunlfcT) December 21, 2019
In defence of the ref #LFC need to raise their quality a bit. Loose passing & poor choice of pass.
The ref, he is useless, booking a player who was fouled and then tag teaming with equally pointless VAR and award a free kick against Henderson, who was dragged down.
— Batfink (@Batfink1892) December 21, 2019
This referee isn't very good.
— Ian Doyle (@IanDoyleSport) December 21, 2019
So how is that not a penalty?
— Sam McGuire (@SamMcGuire90) December 21, 2019
https://twitter.com/TheKopSings/status/1208450007591989253
This ref is awful #LIVFLA
— Darren Askew (@DarrenAskew6) December 21, 2019
This ref is getting his license taken away.
— Andrew St Maur (@St_maur94) December 21, 2019
https://twitter.com/CharmayneDas/status/1208450370038452224