Liverpool 0-1 Atletico: Head are in hands because of Mohamed Salah decision

Liverpool heads are in hands because of one decision involving Mohamed Salah and an Atletico Madrid defender near the touchline.

Referee Szymon Marciniak had a terrible game as he gave several contentious decisions, chief among them the decision to award the home side a free-kick after the Egyptian clipped the top of the ball, which happened to be adjacent to Renan Lodi.

Lodi then fell to the ground like he’d been taken out from the top tier with a sniper rifle. But here’s the catch: the linesman, who was stood so close he could sniff Mohamed Salah’s shampoo, didn’t even twitch. He stood stock still. He knew no foul had been committed.

Bizarrely, Marciniak had other ideas and gave Madrid a free-kick despite being unsighted and miles away from the action. It was dreadful.

Watch it here to get the full sense of injustice.

And Liverpool Twitter was going mental with indignation. This wasn’t just the straw that broke the camel’s back, it was the sledgehammer that broke the camel’s back as the Pole made bad decision after bad decision.

To top it all off, Liverpool were having a terrible Champions League night and couldn’t get anything going their way. Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold were off the pace, their delivery was inconsistent and the Reds attack lacked fluency and direction.

Salah had an off day, too, as did Sadio Mane as the Senegal international was subbed off after 45 minutes to avoid the ref making a rash decision that resulted in a red card for the forward.

This was a night to forget for the Reds but one to remember for Madrid. They took the lead early and did everything we thought they would to hang on to the lead. Anfield will be a different encounter all together, but hopefully the referee is improved.